


PRESSing matters

by petra_austria



Category: Ben Hardy - Fandom, Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF, British Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Friends With Benefits, Oscars, affair, secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2019-11-14 10:34:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18050870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petra_austria/pseuds/petra_austria
Summary: You work as the assistant of the head of PR for the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. You met the cast during the shooting of the movie and accompanied them through-out the press tour all over the world, reaching its peak on the Oscars weekend. You and the cast had gotten close over time, but with Ben you had a unique connection as it was mainly based on flirting and hearing everything in a double meaning. Something HAD to happen on this pinnacle of a press tour…





	1. Chapter 1

You were working as the first assistant to Pam, the head of PR for the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. That meant you were responsible for the PR for the whole movie, even at the filming stage and you were with them through all the press tours all over the world. You were the one standing in the shadow of every interview, overseeing the questions and most of all the time to keep the schedule running.

Spending so much time with the cast, it was inevitable you guys got close. Of course, there was that band-close, but you came right after. You were in on basically all the inside jokes and, most importantly, you were there at the creation of Cardboard Ben in Japan. Ben in particular you had a special connection with since you were basically the same age. And your interactions were riddled with ambiguities and flirty comments.

The whole Bohemian rhapsody experience culminated with the Oscar weekend. You arrived in L.A. on Thursday morning as the cast was supposed to arrive in the afternoon and the first parties, they had to go to, were later that evening. Over the course of the press tour, you always took on tasks that also set you in the position of a personal assistant.

Just like today, as soon as you had arrived at the hotel, you checked if everything had gone right with the reservations. And, of course, it didn’t.

“What do you mean five rooms? We had reservations for six”, you voiced your complaint. “I’m really sorry, there must have been a mix-up. It’s Oscars-weekend, everything is really crazy at the moment”, the woman at the reception told you, not looking very sorry. “We had the rooms confirmed weeks ago”, you said, getting nervous. “Are there any other rooms available?”, you asked with not much hope as she commented you last sentence with a shrug. She only gave you a raised eyebrow. “As I said, it is Oscars-weekend. There ARE no other rooms”, she told you very slow like you were mentally disabled. You really had to look for every little part of professionalism in your body to not punch that stupid face.

“Very well, we will make it work”, you said through clenched teeth and a fake smile as you took the five little envelopes with the keycards inside from the counter.

You walked over to the lobby with your suitcase and laptop bag and set up your little base camp for yourself as you waited for the others to arrive. As you looked at the room numbers on the little envelopes, you also noticed that you all were spread out over several floors, not on one like you had requested. What a great start to this weekend!

You started your laptop and worked on the schedule of the guys and wrote press releases until you heard the typical pace of your boss Pam’s heels clicking on the floor. You looked up and found her in the middle of the lobby. “Pam! Over here”, you waved at her and she spotted you a second later. “Oh, hi Y/N. Did you check on the rooms, is everything alright?”, she asked you taking off her sunglasses. “Well, not really, but I’ll take care of that”, you told her. Lying to her would not work, she saw through every lie and also your working relationship was based on honesty and trust.

“A big problem?”, she asked raising her eyebrow. “Nothing I can’t handle”, you told her and for a second actually believed that. “Okay, great. I need to lay down, this L.A. traffic was using up my last bit of patience. I need to lay down”, she said and you handed her an envelope. Since all the rooms were the same, at least that the receptionist was able to confirm to you, it didn’t matter what card you gave her.

A little later, Rami and Lucy arrived and you handed them their keycard. Not long after came Joe and you handed out your next keycard.

The last one’s to arrive were Gwil and Ben and you sat there with your last two envelopes. “Hey, Y/N!”, Ben called out as soon as he spotted you and you looked up from your laptop. “Hey Ben”, you smiled brightly at him and got up from your seat. You two hugged each other and right after, you gave Gwil a hug too.

“How was your flight?”, you asked. “Long, but fun”, Gwil said. “How can a flight that long be fun?”, you asked and turned around to grab the last two envelopes with keycards. “You will see later on Instagram”, he shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, hopefully nothing I have to find a cute explanation for”, you told him and handed out the envelopes. “No, we behaved”, Ben commented and winked at you.

“Great, see you later”, Gwil held up his envelope and turned around to walk over to the elevators. Ben turned to walk away himself and out of the corner of his eye, he saw how you sat back down in your chair. “Have the others not arrived yet?”, he asked and you turned in your seat surprised that he was still here.

“No, no, everyone’s accounted for”, you nod and shot him a small tired smile. “Then what are you still doing down here? Can’t you work better in your room?”, he asked and came back the two steps he had walked away. “I could…if I had one”, you told him. “What do you mean?”, he asked and put down his backpack. “There was a mix-up and we don’t have enough rooms”, you huffed out. “It’s okay, I just chill here until they kick me out”, you waved off his concerned look. “Listen, it’s not like I can crash at Pam’s room since I told her I’ll handle it. Also, she’s my boss. And I can’t definitely sleep in Rami and Lucy’s room since, you know…reasons”, you pulled a face.

“Then sleep in my room”, he immediately offered. “On the floor or what?”, you asked as a joke. Although that would still be better than in that small chair in the lobby. “No, you take the bed, I sleep on the floor or chair or whatever they’ve got up there”, he said. “No! You can’t sleep on the floor, it’s the most important weekend for you. You need to be well rested”, you waved it off. “I will not be well rested when I know that you are down here. We will both sleep in the bed, we’re adults, we can make it work”, he decided and with that he took your suitcase and walked towards the elevators. “Ben, wait!”, you said loudly but shushed yourself up to not draw any more attention to the both of you.

You quickly closed your laptop, put it in your bag, grabbed his backpack and ran after him. Right when you caught up to him, the doors of the elevator opened and you both stepped in. “Which floor?”, he asked as he put down your suitcase and his finger hovered over the numbers. “You’ve got the room number”, you nodded towards his back pocket. “Oh right”, mumbled, reached back and pulled out the envelope. “So, sixth it is”, he announced and pushed the button.

You both stood in there in silence, you biting down on your lips to hold back a smile. You felt a little tingling in your stomach. His eyes were fixed on the little screen that was counting up the numbers until it reached the sixth floor. You could see a little smile curling up in the corner of his mouth.

The doors opened with a ping and you both stepped out. “What number?”, you asked him and he shrugged his shoulders. “You just looked at it, Ben!”, you scolded him playfully. “Would you mind?”, he asked with playful innocence as he turned his ass towards you for you to fumble out the little envelope from his back pocket. You rolled your eyes but couldn’t hold back a smile and you took out the keycards and then walked towards the desired hotel room.

You opened the door as the little light changed from red to green and it opened with a click. You held the door open for Ben with the two suitcases. You found a big double bed and a big TV right across from it and you knew you were set for the night. “We can work with that”, Ben said as he put down the suitcases and took off his black hoodie. “Yes, I think so too”, you put down your bag and his backpack and walked over to the bed. You gently sat down on the mattress and started bouncing. “Oh, this is heaven”, you mumbled, kicked off your shoes and lay down on now your side of the bed. Only now you realized how tired you were and how much your back hurt from sitting in that lobby chair half of the day. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath.

The next second, Ben jumped into bed and made you jump on your side. “God, Ben!”, you screamed out, ripping you out of your calm state. “Sorry, I had to”, he apologized and turned his head to you. The bed was big enough that a third person could fit between you. This actually could work, you thought to yourself.

Ben propped himself up on his elbow as he turned to his side to face you. He bumped his foot against yours. “So, what are we two pretties doing now?”, he asked and wiggled his eyebrows at you. You rolled your eyes at him. He was always flirty with you and you always played unbothered by it, but sometimes it brought some butterflies to your stomach

“I will take a quick shower to get that airplane and lobby dirt off of me and then YOU have to get ready for the first party of a long weekend”, you told him and got up. You walked over to your suitcase and got out your toilet bag and some clothes to change into. You gave yourself a hard time with your suitcase as you didn’t want to just plainly open it because you couldn’t remember where you had put your bras and panties as you didn’t anticipate that you would have to share a room this weekend.

A little while later, you sat on the bed, laptop in front of you, working. You had changed into some leggings and a tank top as you would stay in the room for the rest of the evening. Ben was still in the bathroom, getting ready for the event.

The TV turned on, silent in the background. You checked your mails and wrote another press release as you heard the bathroom door open. “Oh good, you’re done. You’re almost late”, you said after a quick look to find him dressed and finally ready. “I think you take longer in the bathroom than I do”, you said with a chuckle. But that wasn’t that hard since you’re used to use little to no make up and went with your hair either straight or up in a pony tail.

“Well, if you want to look that good, you need to take your time”, he said in a cocky voice and ran his fingers through is hair in front of the mirror next to the TV. “You look decent, don’t get carried away”, you said to him, your eyes still fixed on the laptop screen.

“So that’s what’s under all those sweaters and blazers”, he said and made you look up. You found him scanning you from top to bottom. “Don’t be creepy, Ben”, you shot him a look and crossed your arms in front of your chest, feeling weirdly naked now. He gave you a cheeky grin and grabbed his phone and wallet from the desk. “I better get going, I don’t want to be late”, he said and gave you a wink as he walked towards the door. “Be nice, smile and don’t do anything I have to write an apology or correction for”, you shouted after him and then heard the door fall shut.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the evening, you would stay in your room and order room service as you didn’t like going to such events and most of all you didn’t like dressing up. You had an agreement with Pam that she would tag along to such social events with the cast and you would stay back, working on press releases, schedules and all the behind the scenes work. Normally, you would walk around in jeans and t-shirts or sweaters, with some comfortable sneakers on your feet. If you needed to be a bit more formal, you had a blazer over your shirt. That was about the most formal you would get. You couldn’t even remember when the last time was you had worn a dress. Normally that was fine as you were behind the cameras at the press tours.

But Oscars-weekend was different. Pam had already told you that on Sunday, you had to overcome your fears and reluctance to dress up as she needed you on the biggest night in the industry by her side. There was no way she was able to manage the whole cast on her own. You dreaded the day to come and were happy that you still had three days before that.

You were watching TV, your eyelids becoming heavy and you had trouble following the program. You were almost asleep as you heard the click and little beep of the door being opened. “Honey, I’m home”, you heard Ben a second before you saw him. “Hey, back already?”, you asked and checked your phone for the time. “Yeah, everybody was so jet-lagged, nobody wanted to stay longer than we had to”, he told you and took off his jacket. He threw it over the chair by the window and dropped on the bed beside you. “You look tired”, you mumbled, looking over at him. Over the course of the evening, you had moved closer to the middle of the bed, using the space as you’re normally would.

Ben was close to you and you could smell his cologne and a bit of alcohol. “Did you guys do something stupid?”, you mumbled, your eyelids slowly closing again. “Not more than the usual”, he answered you in a mumbling tone, his eyes closed as well. “Good boy”, you reached out and patted his chest. Your fingers stopped for a second as you felt his muscular chest beneath them and quickly pulled your hand back.

“I’ll go brush my teeth”, you said and almost unwillingly rolled over to the edge of the bed to get up. You stumbled into the bathroom, being blinded by the bright light. You closed the door and quickly brushed your teeth.

As you came back out, Ben was already in bed, his upper body naked. “Please tell me you’re wearing something under that blanket”, you asked him in a dry tone. “Boxers…for his pleasure and hers”, he said in a weird commercial voice as he pulled back the blanket and winked at you. “Good god!”, you groaned with an eye roll and got into bed.

Ben turned off the TV and you reached over to turn off the bedside and ceiling lamps. You stayed on your side turning your back to him. It suddenly hit you that you would be sharing a bed with Ben tonight. “Just FYI, I’m not used to sharing a bed, so if I move too close, just shove me back on my side, okay?”, you said over your shoulder in a low voice. You didn’t dare to speak up in the dark room.

“So, no cuddling tonight?”, he asked in a low voice as well and you heard him chuckling. You didn’t even bother to answer him. “Goodnight, Ben”, you said and turned on your stomach, pushing your pillow around to find a comfortable position.

You moved around a lot, not finding a good spot. You felt like it was getting hotter and hotter in the room. After a while, you sat up and huffed out loud. “Is it just me or is it hot in here?”, you asked and felt yourself getting a bit sweaty. “Can’t say, I’m wearing almost nothing as it is”, Ben mumbled. He wasn’t able to fall asleep himself with you moving around so much.

“Would you mind if I take off my pants? I feel like I’m burning up”, you asked and looked over at him. He was a bit startled by your question. “Uhm, no-no problem”, he stuttered a bit.

You got up and pulled your leggings down, wiggling out of them. You didn’t know that he was able to see a little bit with the lights from outside peeking through the curtains. His eyes were hooked on your ass as you shimmied out of your leggings and bent down to pull them off your feet.

“Thanks”, you said as you got back into bed. Somehow your foot got caught on the edge of the bed and you fell flat on your stomach across the bed, your hands and head landing on Ben’s stomach. “Ugh”, escaped his mouth as you fell on him. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Ben”, you quickly said, pushing yourself up on the bed beside him, now fully awake.

“Oh, you planned this, didn’t you?”, he asked and you could hear the cheeky grin in his voice. Before you knew it, he flipped you over, pinning you down on the bed beneath him, tickling your sides. “Stop Ben, please”, you laughed, trying to get his hands off you, but he was too strong. You both moved around so much that the blankets fell to the floor and your heads ended up at the lower end of the bed.

“Admit it”, he ordered you. “Ow, please…I can’t…anymore”, you panted heavily as you tried to escape his hands. “Please…stop”, you whined and moved around beneath him. He suddenly stopped and looked at you. You both were breathing heavily. His hand moved up to brush a strand of hair out of your face.

You looked up at him, still trying to catch your breath. Your shirt had moved up and his naked belly touched yours as he leaned down, sitting between your legs. His face was getting closer to yours and you closed your eyes in anticipation. The next moment, his lips brushed against yours, slowly, testing. You moved your head up and pressed your lips against his. Your arms flung around his neck, pressing him on you.

With one arm next to your head, he supported his weight, his other hand moved down to your naked side, caressing your skin, gripping it harder as the kiss intensified. His tongue danced around in your mouth and you opened your legs further for him.

His free hand traveled upwards under your shirt, grabbing your breast and kneading it with a strong grip. He grunted at your lips as he found you not wearing a bra. You arched your back into his hand, wanting to feel him closer to you.

You could feel his bulge growing against your thigh. You would squirm beneath him to get him closer to your center. Your hands wandered over his back, along his sides and over his abs. You could feel his muscles tensing up as you lightly brushed over them with your fingertips. Oh god, he got the V!

His mouth let go of yours and pulled your shirt up to your chin to free your breasts. His lips closed around your hard nipple, flicking it with his tongue and sucking on it. You arched your back again, moaning out into the dark room, dropping your head further into the mattress. “Oh Ben”, his name fell from your lips, you sounding breathless.

You wanted to just enjoy his touches, but you also wanted to get more active and give him pleasure as well. You pushed him off of you, leaning up. You felt a bit dizzy and had trouble finding him in the darkness for the first moment. You got up on your knees and pushed him back until he sat against the headboard of the bed.

You straddled him, sitting down on his thighs. Then you pulled your shirt over your head and threw it behind you on the bed. The only thing left on your body were your panties and the next moment Ben’s lips. He kissed down your collarbone, leaving a trail between your breasts before grabbing them with both hands this time, kneading them with his strong hands. “They’re amazing”, he mumbled at your skin, kissing up to your neck again.

Your hands traveled down his abs again. You hesitated only for a nano-second at the waistband of his boxers before your hand moved inside and grabbed his already hard cock. You felt some precum on his tip and smeared it around with your thumb before starting to stroke him, gently at first. You could feel him twitching in your hand and moved faster up and down.

Your hips started to move back and forth in his lap, grinding on his thighs. His fingers wandered into your panties that were already soaked. His middle and index finger went straight for your clit. You gasped and threw your head back. “God, Ben!”, you moaned and rolled your hips forward into his fingers. You supported yourself with your free hand on his shoulder, digging your nails into his skin.

He started circling and pressing on it and your breath quickened. You let go of his cock, slipped your fingers past his in your pants and pushed them inside your wet pussy. You moaned out loud as you moved them around a few times, gathering as much of your slick wetness on your fingers as possible.

Ben looked at you in awe as you took control over him. You pulled his boxers down, his cock jumping in your waiting hand. You smeared your own wetness over his cock and continued to stroke him with a firm grip. “Y/N”, he hissed your name, you both looking down at your hand in-between your bodies.

You leaned forward until your foreheads touched, leaning against each other. His fingers slipped into your wet pussy, his thumb pressing on your clit. He started pumping in and out, but soon you moved your hips on your own, riding his fingers at the same pace you were stroking his cock, twisting your wrist.

Both your breaths quickened. Your hand was on his shoulder again, holding on to him, your pelvis hovering above his hand. His cock was twitching, his hips bucking up into your hand. “Oh Ben”, you whined, your eyes closed, your forehead still resting against his.

Your orgasm came closer and closer at rapid speed. Feeling his hard cock between your fingers, hearing his moans and curses, two of his fingers working your pussy, it sent you over the edge. You closed your hand tighter on him as you moved your hand up as a reaction to your orgasm and he basically exploded in your hand.

You felt something warm and sticky running down your fingers and on your stomach as well. You rode out your orgasm on his fingers, holding on to his neck. “Fuck, that was good”, he murmured at your shoulders, kissing and biting your skin.

You were still trying to catch your breath as Ben leaned up and gave you a sloppy kiss, his tongue lusting for yours.

As you came down from your high, you realized the situation and most of all the position you were in. You leaned back and stared down at your hand, covered in Ben’s cum. You got off Ben’s lap, careful not to touch anything with that hand. “I…uhm, bathroom”, you stuttered and quickly got off the bed and into the bathroom. You didn’t turn on the lights. It took you a second to remember where the sink was.

Almost a little manic, you washed him off your hand and body. You used a wet towel to clean yourself up between your legs and spurted some cold water in your face. This was bad, so so bad, you thought to yourself. You crossed a line with Ben back there in the bedroom, something you couldn’t take back. You were still working for him or the studio he was working for. This was so bad!

You covered your face with your now dry hands. “God”, you grunted into your palms. You ran your fingers through your hair. A knock at the door had you shoot up again. “You alright, Y/N?”, you heard Ben’s voice. “Yeah…uhm, I’ll be right out”, you told him and took a big breath. You suddenly realized that you were wearing nothing but your panties. You covered your breasts with one arm, with the other hand you opened the door to find Ben right in front of it. He looked at you a bit weird, you thought.

You squeezed past him. “All yours…the bathroom, I mean”, you said and quickly grabbed your shirt off the bed. You heard the door of the bathroom being shut and you immediately felt a little less tense. You put the shirt over your head and felt better as soon as your upper body was covered again. You grabbed the blankets off the floor and put them back on the bed. You crawled inside and covered yourself with your blanket.

A few moments later, you heard Ben coming back out of the bathroom, walking over to his suitcase and taking out another boxer short. A second later, he slipped under the covers behind you. You felt his arm moving across your stomach and the next moment, he pulled you closer to him until your back rested against his chest.

“I think we did some stupid shit just now”, you mumbled into the pillow, but he heard you. “I liked it”, he mumbled behind you and buried his face at your neck. “Of course you did, you basically came all over me”, you answered him sarcastically. “And you came all over me, what’s your point?”, he asked. “Touché”, you had to admit and couldn’t help but chuckle at his words for a second. “Let’s worry about it in the morning, love, and catch some sleep”, he said in a low voice and you felt him pressing a kiss to your neck. Well, he was right. It was definitely the both of you, you could have stopped him at any point, but you didn’t want to.

You grabbed his arm and pulled it tighter around your waist. You could hear how his breath got slower by the second and next thing you knew he was asleep. On the one hand, you were tired as well, on the other hand your thoughts were tumbling in your brain. You knew it was wrong what you just did, but you also knew deep down that this probably had to happen at some point. And sharing a bed at the pinnacle of your work relationship, knowing that it would end after this weekend, at least for the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, certainly didn’t help to avoid it.

You knew he was right, there was nothing you could do right now and you needed your sleep as the weekend would not only be stressful for him.


	3. Chapter 3

You woke up the second the alarm on your phone went off. You found yourself in the same position you had fallen asleep in last night. Ben’s body pressed against your back, his strong arm across your waist, your feet entangled. You could feel his breath on your neck. You carefully moved his arm away and shuffled to the end of the bed to grab your phone. You turned off the alarm and walked straight to the bathroom to catch a cold shower to wake you up.

About twenty minutes later, you came back out, a big towel wrapped around your body, your still wet hair leaving drops of water on your shoulders and back. You walked over to your suitcase and grabbed a fresh set of clothes to change into.

“Morning”, you heard from the bed. You turned around to find Ben looking at you out of tired eyes, still wrapped in his blanket. His hair was all over the place. You had never seen anything cuter.

“Morning”, you said with a smile and quickly turned around again before he could see you blush. “What time is it?”, he mumbled and rubbed his eyes, a big yawn washing over his face. You walked over to the nightstand and checked your phone. “Almost seven”, you answered him. “AM?”, he asked shocked. “I can’t sleep all day”, you commented with a chuckle at his facial expression. “All day? Is the sun even up?”, he asked and turned over to the curtains. Instead of answering him, you walked over to the windows and pulled back the curtains. Bright sunlight filled the hotel room.

“Good god”, he grunted and pulled the blanket over his head. “You don’t have to get up yet, but I have a lot to do today”, you told him and walked back to the bathroom with your clothes in hand.

You blow-dried your hair, got dressed and put your hair up in a pony tail. When you got out, Ben was still in bed. “I think I’ve changed my mind. It’s time you get up too”, you walked over and pulled the blanket off him. You had completely forgotten that he was just wearing a boxer short and were a bit startled as his almost naked body presented himself to you.

Flashes of last night appeared in your head, you almost heard his moans in your ear. You quickly let go of the blanket, hiding your blushing face.

“I need to go, see you later”, you said while grabbing your phone and purse. You left the room so quickly that he didn’t even had the chance to say goodbye.

You rode down with the elevator and walked across the lobby. “Excuse me, Miss?”, you heard from the receptionist’s desk. It took you a moment to realize she meant you, as your mind was already in the middle of today’s To-Do list.

“Yes?”, you asked and stepped closer. It was a different woman that yesterday, but your special friend stood a few feet away, talking to another guest of the hotel. “I heard that there were some problems with the rooms you had booked yesterday”, she said to you and at least had the decency to look a bit ashamed. “Well, problems is a mild way of putting it. It was one too few”, you told her and resisted the urge to roll your eyes. “We can’t express of how sorry we are that this even had happened. But I got good news for you. We had a last-minute cancellation and now have a room available for you”, she presented to you. That was indeed good news!

“Great. At least there is one person who is doing her job”, you couldn’t help to bite back and looked over to the woman from yesterday. You knew she heard you, as she tensed up and held up a fake smile while working on her computer.

“The mini-bar will of course be comped”, she assured you. “For all six rooms”, you didn’t say it as a question. She looked a bit startled. “Yes…of course”, she then quickly confirmed. “Great! I need to go now, but please bring the keycards for the new room up to 623. You can give it to the person I was sharing a room with”, you advised her, shouldered your bag and left the lobby.

You grabbed some breakfast on the way. You rushed from one place to the other, confirming reservations and VIP-packages for the parties. You helped buying last minute stuff for all the stylists.

You ran around all day that you missed out on lunch and couldn’t even make it to the early dinner with the cast before they headed to their next events. That was probably for the best as you had yourself starving to fit into whatever dress Rami’s stylist Ilaria had picked out for you. You hadn’t even seen it yourself. Tomorrow you would be able to have a first and final fitting, which was a bit mental doing it a day before the event.

During the day, you saw that you had gotten a few texts from Ben, but you always had to swipe them off your screen due to a phone call or work e-mails. On your final way back to the hotel, carrying about five bags of utensils for the stylists, you had a few minutes to yourself as you sat in a cab.

“Was last night so bad that you had me thrown out of our room?”, he asked with a winking emoji. Your stomach jumped a bit at the word “our”, which was so stupid, you knew yourself. There would never be something “our” with you and Ben. You knew it was a mistake, but you were also glad that it happened in a way. You would never forget the sounds he made when you had his cock in your hand or the look on his face when he came.

You crossed your legs and had to clear your throat as you felt a little hot flash washing over you along with the memory of it.

Shortly before you arrived at the hotel, the event manager for tonight had emailed you the pass codes for the party. As you stepped out of the cab, you forwarded it to Pam with one hand, paying the driver with the other.

In the lobby, you ran into the cast and Pam. “Just got it, thanks Y/N”, Pam said, you had spotted you first and held up her phone. “Great, sorry it was so last minute”, you apologized, for something that was not your fault, and blew a loose strand of hair out of your face. Your hands were packed with the bags and your purse was about to fall off your shoulder. Very inelegantly, you tried to push it back up by moving around your shoulder in big motions.

“Hey, we missed you at dinner”, Joe said as he followed Pam, the other ones right behind him. “Well…”, you said and held up the bags as an explanation. You saw Ben trying to catch your eye, but you deliberately avoided his stare. But you noticed how hot he looked.

“Are Ilaria and Grace still upstairs?”, you asked directly at Pam. “Yes, but they’re already packing up for tonight”, she told you and was on her phone again. “Good, I’m just turning these up before they leave”, you said and nodded at the bags in your hands. “I think we need to go now”, Pam said and motioned the cast towards the exit of the hotel. “Have fun, guys”, you said and hurried to the elevators to catch the stylists before they left.

When you finally arrived at your room, you fell on your bed, out of breath. What a day! The room was tidy and the bed was made. You would never guess what had happened here last night. Although, you had shared your room with Ben for one night only, it was weird to be alone now.

You needed a shower. It was quite a warm day in L.A. for February and you felt sweaty and sticky and very tired from running around all day. And above all, you had almost an entire day of e-mails and other work waiting for you on your laptop. You had to remind yourself that you were here to work and not on holiday.

You grunted as you got up from the bed to take that well-deserved shower. Then you ordered a salad from room service and got into comfy sleeping clothes. You reached for your laptop and turned it on. You remembered that you were able to use the mini-bar without having to pay for it.

You grabbed the little champagne bottle and a pack of peanuts out of it and set up your little work place in the middle of the bed.

You had to do some pre-work for your next project, working on a press-tour schedule with a colleague that was back home in England, arranging appointments with a wide range of journalists, sending out requests, answering some others.

Until you had worked through only one day’s worth of mails, it was almost one AM. Your eyes felt like squares from looking at the computer screen all night. You rubbed them and had to yawn really long. You emptied the water bottle beside your bed and got up. You stretched yourself, bending over and shaking out your hair. Your back was hurting from sitting hunched over your laptop all night. Also, it was still so hot in your room that you took off your pants and walked over to crack a window.

“I love my job, I love my job, I love my job”, you mumbled to yourself as you shuffled to the bathroom with tired eyes. When you came back out, you closed your laptop and removed the leftover food from your bed to the little counter underneath the TV screen.

Suddenly you heard a knock at your door. Who the hell would that be at this hour? Was there a fire somewhere and you didn’t hear the alarm?

You walked over to the door, a little hesitant at first. You opened the door just a crack to find Ben leaning against your door frame. “Ben?”, you asked surprised and opened the door more. “Did anything happen?”, you asked alarmed as this seemed to be the only logical explanation why he would come to your door in the middle of the night.

“No, nothing happened. I…I just wanted to see you”, he said and slurred his speech a bit. You knew you would probably regret your next words. “Do you want to come in?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You let Ben into your room and you both practically continue where you had left off the night before…

“Do you want to come in?”, you asked and the next moment, he pressed himself past you, closer than necessary, looking straight at your eyes.

“I wanted to check on you since you basically ignored me all day”, he said like he was answering a question nobody had asked. “I was working”, you told him and tilted your head. “I know, I know”, he nodded his head like you were always using this as an excuse for something.

“Ben, what are you doing here?”, you asked again and folded your arms. You bit your lower lip as you felt a little nervous all of a sudden. You both were still standing in the little hallway of the room, next to the closed door. It was dark in that corner since only the light turned on was the lamp next to the bed.

His face changed and he came closer to you. “I just had to see you”, he said while walking the two steps towards you. His eyes were fixed on yours and you had to swallow hard as your throat felt dry. Those eyes would be the death of you.

His hand reached out to tuck some loose hair behind your ear. His fingertips graced your skin lightly and lingered underneath your ear for a moment. In a sudden move, his hand was in your neck, pulling you towards him, pressing his mouth on yours. Your arms immediately flung around his neck, getting up on your tip-toes. His tongue begged for entrance and you willingly opened your mouth, welcoming him. He tasted like gin and cigarettes.

His hand went down to your ass that was only covered in your panties and with one swift motion, he picked you up. Your legs wrapped around his waist and the next second, you felt the cold wall on your back as he was pressing you against it.

He was hungrily kissing you, biting your lip. You moaned out loud at his urge. You were feeling the same although you tried to deny it to yourself. But in moments like these, when he had his whole body pressed against yours, sucking on the soft spot behind your ear, his hands all over your boy, it was hard to stay strong. Well, what was one more night, you had already screwed up…

Your fingers entangled in his hair, tugging at it, pressing kisses to his temple while his mouth wandered over your neck. His hips bucked up into yours and there was definitely too much fabric between you.

“Bed”, was all you mumbled, but he understood. His hands gripped your ass tighter and he stepped away from the wall, balancing you on his hips. He walked over to the bed and gently placed you on top of it. He was still wearing his jacket, which now dropped on the floor behind him. He kicked off his shows and you could see his bulge pressing against his pants.

You got up on your knees and reached forward. You hooked two fingers in the waistband of his pants and pulled him closer as he started to unbutton his shirt. You opened the button and unzipped his pants. He stopped in his motions and just watched you.

You pulled down his pants just enough and let your tongue glide along the outlines of his cock over his boxers. Ben exhaled loudly, licking his lips at the sight of you.

After last night, the thought of tasting his cock had been tumbling through your mind all day. It felt and looked so big in your hand and you wanted to know what he tasted like. You pulled down his boxers and his cock was already hard.

You grabbed him at his base and licked him up and down, getting him wet all over. You let your tongue circle his tip, lapping off the precum. You licked over your lips, looking up at him through your lashes. His eyes seemed darker and were fixed on your mouth. You leaned forward, still looking up at him as you slowly moved your lips over his cock, taking him into your mouth whole.

You could see how hard he had to restrain himself to not thrust forward but let you go at your own pace. You loved the look on his face and you knew you would never forget it.

You moved your head back, almost letting him slip out of your mouth but then sucked him back in. “Fuck, Y/N”, he hissed and threw his head back for a moment, but he didn’t want to miss any second of this, so he immediately looked down again.

He tasted exactly like you hoped he would. You tried to take him as deep as possible to draw as many moans from his lips as you could. You were addicted to his sounds, especially when you were responsible for them.

You moved your head back and forth, sucking on his throbbing cock, letting your tongue dance around him. His fingers entangled in your hair, pulling it out of the way. He held it in a pony tail as you sucked his cock and his hips started to thrust forward. You stopped moving and looked up at him. You wanted him to move on his own, you wanted him to fuck your face.

He looked down at you, checking if you were okay with it and you playfully winked at him. His hips started thrusting forward, sliding his cock in and out of your pursed lips, thriving his cock deeper into your throat with every stroke.

You felt so dirty and sexy as you knelt there on the edge of the bed, Ben holding your hair up as he fucked your face, panting heavily as he felt his orgasm rushing over him. Your hand automatically moved down to your crotch, massaging your clit over your panties. They were already soaked with your juices, sticking to your skin.

You hummed around his cock out of your own pleasure. Who knew you would like it rough? Ben certainly didn’t mind it, as he liked it rough sometimes too. And with a gorgeous woman like you, he couldn’t control himself.

As his orgasm came, he pressed your head on his cock, spilling his juices down your throat. It surprised you a little bit and made you cough. Ben immediately let go of you. “I’m sorry, Y/N, I couldn’t control myself there. Are you okay?”, he asked and looked honestly worried.

You wiped the tears out of the corner of your eyes and chuckled lightly. “It’s okay, Ben. I’m good”, you assured him. “I’m sorry”, he repeated. You stood up on your knees, bringing your face almost on the same level as his. Your hands reached up, cupping his face. “I’m fine”, you slowly said, smiling. You pressed a light kiss to his lips.

“But you can still make it up to me”, you purred and bit down on your lower lip. You let go of his face and moved up on the bed. You pulled your shirt over your head and tossed it to the ground. You lay on your back and slowly, almost teasingly pushed down your panties.

Ben watched you closely and simultaneously tried to get his shirt and pants off. He almost tipped over as he pulled his pants from his feet.

As you watched him undress, your fingers went straight for your pussy. You pressed down on your clit, rubbing it slowly in little circles. Soft moans escaping your lips. Your eyes were fixed on Ben in front of the bed. “I need you”, you almost whispered.

Ben, now fully naked, stood there, hypnotized by the sight of you. As he heard you whispering, his heart jumped a bit in his chest. That’s what he wanted to hear from you.

He crawled onto the bed, placing his head between your spread legs. He kissed your inner thighs, lightly biting your skin which made you hiss. To him, it was the loveliest sound, only topped by you moaning his name which he experienced last night. This time he would not only make you moan, but scream. He wanted you to give him all of you as he wanted to give you all of him.

His mouth came closer to your center with every kiss. His tongue carefully lapped forward, licking a long stripe through your folds. Your moan got stuck in your throat at the sudden pleasure and your head fell back into the pillow. As Ben pulled his head slightly back, your hips followed, eager to feel his tongue once more.

Once again, he licked your folds all the way up to your clit, flicking it with his tongue. “Oh god”, you screamed out. Your hands gripped your breasts and squeezed them hard, your back arching to the limit. Ben was hungry for your pussy, wanting to eat you out so bad, wanting to hear you scream some more.

He closed his mouth around your clit and sucked on it. Your hips started rolling forward, pressing against his face. “Yes, oh god, yes”, you panted, gripping the sheets tightly. His mouth went down a bit, letting go of your clit.

Your hands moved down, your fingers in his hair. “Oh Ben, please”, you whined his name, begging him to give you that much needed release. “You taste so good, Y/N”, he murmured at your pussy, lapping up your juices. Hearing him say such things about you and feeling his deep voice so close to your pussy had your eyes rolling back in your head.

With your fingers in his hair, you pushed him into your clit just like he had pushed your head onto his cock just a moment before. His tongue felt strong as he pushed it inside your, twirling it around in all sorts of angles. “Fuck!”, you yelled, your head shooting up. Ben looked up at you as he tongue-fucked your pussy. Your eyes met and you had trouble focusing. Your hips thrusted forward, wanting to feel him deeper and deeper inside you.

Your orgasm hit you so suddenly and so hard that you screamed out. Your body twisted and turned in all sorts of directions, but Ben wrapped his strong arms around your thighs, holding you in place. He had you ride out your orgasm on his tongue, your hips and thighs shaking uncontrollably.

As you felt overly sensitive, you pushed his head away from your center, you couldn’t take it anymore. You rolled to your side, panting heavily into the mattress. Your limbs felt weak and so light at the same time. You silently moaned as your walls still tightened and released.

You almost didn’t notice at first how Ben had moved up behind you, kissing up your back, wrapping an arm around you to comfort you. His other arm going under you, bedding your head in his elbow.

You felt his hard cock against your ass and instinctively pushed back on it. Ben’s hand moved up to your breast, kneading it softly, but his grip got firmer as you bucked your hips back again. You wanted to feel him inside you. You needed to feel him inside you!

You turned your head as far as you could to meet his lips with yours, exchanging sloppy kisses. His hand moved down, guiding his hard cock to your entrance. You were so wet from your last orgasm that he was sliding right in. Both of you moaned at the feeling of each other. You lifted your upper leg to give him more access and his arm wrapped around your thigh to keep it there. He thrusted up into you with long, searching strokes.

You let your head fall back against his shoulder, leaning into him as your walls tightened around him. His lips were grazing your cheek, the fingers of his other hand was entangled with yours. You squeezed his hand in the rhythm of his thrusts. “Oh Ben”, you whispered closed to his face, almost out of breath.

Those long, slow strokes hit you harder than anything before. Your lower stomach tightened.

“Oh Ben, I think…again…I’m…”, you weren’t able to get your words in the right order as his strokes seemed to be plowing even deeper inside you. He pulled your leg up a bit further and managed to open you up a little bit more. His moves became a bit faster and he thrusted up hard. Your free hand reached down between your legs and started circling your clit. You could feel that it was just seconds away…

“OH FUCK!”, you screamed out, arching your back, burying your head in his shoulder. Your walls clenched hard around him as your orgasm washed over you. You squeezed his hand tightly and your eyes rolled back into your head.

Your sounds and moves sent Ben over the edge as well and he spurted his cum inside you. His grip on your thigh got tighter, leaving marks on your body.

It took you guys a moment to catch your breaths and to untangle your bodies. You still lay next to each other, Ben spooning you. Your naked bodies were covered in sweat. “That was unbelievable”, he mumbled at your ear, pushing some hair out of the way to press soft kisses on your neck and shoulder. For a moment, you leaned into him, enjoying the closeness and feeling of pure satisfaction before your brain started to kick in again.

“You should leave”, you mumbled, half-asleep. “I know”, he mumbled behind you, sounding as tired as you were. “I meant now”, you added. Your eyes were closed, your hand holding on to his arm that was wrapped around your waist. Your head was still placed on his arm beneath you. “I’ll go in a minute”, he said and it wasn’t almost audible anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the morning after and you rushed to get Ben out of your room and down to your breakfast meeting with the cast and Pam. Before Pam arrives, Joe starts talking about a couple he heard having sex last night. You almost choked on your coffee.  
> Also you have your fitting with Ilaria for your Oscars outfit and get to see the dress for the first time…

Next thing you knew was the beeping of a truck moving backwards. Your eyes fluttered open and bright sunlight filled your room. “Shit, shit, shit”, you cursed as you shoved Ben’s arm off you. Somehow a blanket had been placed on top of both of you over night. You couldn’t remember how it had gotten there.

With a racing heart, you crawled to the edge of the bed, grabbing your phone from the nightstand. You feared you had missed your alarm and were late for pretty much everything. Then Pam would come to your door, find Ben in your room, naked and put two and two together and everything would be an even bigger mess than it already was.

It was just before 7 AM, your alarm hadn’t even begun to ring. You sighed relieved. At least you hadn’t overslept, but you needed to get Ben back to his room before anyone noticed he hadn’t spent the night there.

You walked around the bed, shaking Ben’s shoulder. “Ben, wake up, you have to go”, you said in a firm tone. With a grunt he turned towards you and opened one eye. A smile formed on his face. “Now, Ben. Come on”, you said again and pulled on his arm. He didn’t move a bit.

“Can you please do this every time from now on?”, he asked mumbling, his eyes closed again. “What?”, you asked, not knowing what he was talking about. “Waking me, completely naked?”, he said and opened one eye again to look you up and down. Only now you remembered that you weren’t wearing any clothes.

“Get up. NOW!”, you sounded angry and let go of his arm. It landed on the mattress with a dull plop. You walked around the bed again to collect your clothes from around the bed, stepping over Ben’s shirt, pants and shoes along the way.

“You look cute when you’re angry”, he chuckled and sat up in bed, following you with his eyes around the room. “Don’t ever say that to a woman again. It makes us even angrier”, you told him over your shoulder as you put your panties back on and your shirt followed right after. “Are you in a hurry?”, he asked. “No, but you should be”, you said as you picked up his clothes and threw them on the bed. “You need to get dressed and back to your room. You know we have a breakfast meeting in an hour”, you reminded him. “Oh yes, I forgot”, he said and grabbed the clothes from in front of him.

He got out of bed and you caught a glimpse of his naked ass in the sunlight. Instinctively, you bit down on your lip and blushed a bit as you quickly turned around. “I thought so, that’s why I’m telling you”, you said as you looked for your pants. You found them next to the nightstand on the floor.

“Try not to be seen by anyone on your way back”, you told him, as he buttoned up the last few buttons on his shirt. He picked up his jacket from the bed and put it back on. He felt the weight of his phone in the inner pocket. He also checked if his keycard was still there and found it a second later.

“Yes, ma’am”, he saluted you. “Don’t be stupid”, you rolled your eyes. Your phone buzzed and your heart jumped as you felt caught for some reason. You went over to the nightstand to look.

As Ben walked towards the door, he took one of your two keycards that was placed on the counter underneath the TV and put it in his inner pocket. You didn’t notice as you were checking your phone. It was just a new e-mail.

You followed him to the door to check if he was really leaving. “Again, it was my pleasure, Y/N”, Ben hinted a bow and you shot him a look. “Go”, you said, but it didn’t sound that angry anymore. His hand was already on the handle of the door as he stopped. “One more thing though…”, he said and you stopped in your motions. He turned around and pressed a quick kiss on your lips. Your heart jumped in your chest by the surprise. “One for the road”, Ben winked at you and the next second, he was out of the door.

Your fingers went up to touch your lips, still feeling his. You blushed and a smile appeared on your face. You dropped it as soon as you realized that you were doing it. “Stupid”, you said to yourself and shook your head.

 

You took a long shower and got dressed. You made the bed yourself in an attempt to cover up what had happened there last night. You grabbed your things and went down to the breakfast hall.

You had a big table in the corner of the hall as it had to fit seven people. You found Rami, Lucy, Gwil and Ben already sitting there. Ben had changed into some sweatpants and a black hoodie. The guys would not have any appointments until the early afternoon, you would have to leave right after the breakfast for more errand-runs. And later this day, you had your first and only fitting with Ilaria for your Oscars dress. It would also be the first time that you would see what she had picked out for you.

“Morning”, you said as you arrived at the table. You sat across from Ben, trying to avoid eye contact, but not making it too obvious. “Hey”, Lucy greeted you. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages”, she added. “Yeah, well, busy, busy, busy, just like you guys”, you said and took your seat. You grabbed one of the pots from the middle of the table to pour yourself a cup of coffee. Ben looked as tired as you felt. Well, both of you hadn’t gotten that much sleep for the past two nights.

“You look tired”, Lucy stated and Rami nodded agreeingly. “I haven’t slept that much last night”, you simply answered and your eyes shot over to Ben for a nano-second before concentrating on the cup of coffee in front of you again. “Oh, did something keep you up?”, she asked. Or someone, you added in your thoughts. Ben bit down on the corner of his lips to hide his smile.

“Just work”, you mentioned and took a big sip. It was still very hot, but you felt like the caffeine was going straight through your veins.

“What are we talking about?”, Joe asked as he came to the table with a full plate of eggs and bacon. That guy could eat anything without gaining weight. You ogled at the crispy stripes of bacon on his plate as he sat down next to you. “Y/N didn’t get much sleep last night”, Rami answered him.

“Did you hear it too?”, he asked straight at you. “Hear what?”, you asked confused. “That couple going at it in the middle of the night”, he told you and your heart sank. Your throat went dry and your palms started sweating.

“What couple?”, Lucy asked. “I don’t know, but they were pretty loud”, Joe said with a chuckle. “What floor are you on? We didn’t hear anything”, Rami asked him. “Seventh, but windows go out back”, Joe told him. The window. Shit! You had completely forgotten about it when Ben had shown up at your door. Your room was on the sixth floor. You tried hard to remember which room number you had given Joe two days ago, but you couldn’t.

“Ah, we’re out front”, Lucy said and sounded almost disappointed that she didn’t hear the couple. “You’re on 725, right?”, Gwil asked Joe and he nodded. “I’m on 719 and I heard it too, not as loud. So that was that. Boy, those two had some fun”, he grinned admiringly. Your heart sank even more. Your room was basically between Gwil and Joe, just a floor beneath them. It could have only been you and Ben.

Before you could make any sounds of despair, you quickly took another sip of your coffee. You didn’t dare to look up, afraid to catch Ben’s stare on you. You looked down into your cup, wondering if it was big enough to drown yourself in it.

“What about you, Ben?”, Joe asked. “I’m out front as well, 912. Didn’t hear a thing”, he simply stated. “I was sleeping, I didn’t hear anything”, you spoke up without being asked. “You’re out back too, right?”, Gwil remembered. “How could you not have heard that? They woke me up”, Joe laughed. “That must have been the short time I’ve actually gotten some sleep”, you quickly replied. “They sure didn’t get any sleep that night. I almost applauded at the finale”, Joe said admiringly. “Don’t be gross, Joe”, Lucy said to him. Ben chuckled under his breath and you almost choked on your coffee.

Before this conversation could go any further, Pam arrived at the table, sitting down on the other side of you, discussing the plans for today and updating everyone on the schedule as you had prepared it the night before. Your face felt bright red the whole time through.

 

Over the course of the morning, you picked up the suits for the guys for tonight’s Vanity Fair pre-Oscar party and for the big night tomorrow. Lucy’s dress would specially be delivered, her stylists took care of that.

After you quickly grabbed lunch in form of a smoothie on the way back, you delivered the suits to the rooms of the stylists, the last one being Ilaria. “Great, perfect timing”, she said as she opened the door. You brought in the clothing bags, delivering Rami’s suits. “Perfect for what?”, you asked as you placed them on the bed. Your arm felt tired from carrying the heavy bags.

“Your fitting. I need to see if I have to make some changes”, she explained to you. “You can change in the bathroom or right here, it’s just the two of us”, she said and turned around to get out a measuring tape, a piece of paper and a pen. You knew you had to do it, but you felt a little caught off guard.

“Come on, I don’t bite”, Ilaria said over her shoulder when she saw that you hadn’t begun to undress. With a sigh, you took off your bag and kicked off your sneakers. You stripped down your jeans and pulled your shirt over your head. You left your hair up in a pony tail and then stood there waiting for her.

“Take the bra off too”, she mentioned and walked over to a clothing bag hanging on the outside of the bathroom door. “Excuse me?!”, you asked startled. “You can’t wear a bra with that dress, it’s strapless”, she told you and pulled the zipper of the bag down. It was facing away from you, so you couldn’t see what the dress looked like just yet.

“And where do you suggest I keep them then?”, you asked sarcastically and pointed at your boobs. “The dress is tight enough, it will hold them in place”, she waved off your comment. “Not the answer I was looking for, Ilaria”, you said with a raised eyebrow and a dry voice.

“Just wait and see. Come on, top off”, she pointed at your bra. Someone knocked at the door and you immediately covered your body with your hands. “That’s just Lucy, she wanted to see you in the dress”, Ilaria wiped away your concerns and walked to the door. “Is she wearing it yet?”, you heard Lucy from the door. “No, she’s stalling”, Ilaria playfully rolled her eyes. “I’m not stalling, I just don’t want something I can’t wear my bra to”, you shouted from the bedroom.

The next moment, the two ladies appear in your eyesight. “You haven’t even seen it yet, Y/N. Wait with your complaints, please”, Ilaria told you and finally got the dress out of the clothing bag.

A wave of red fabric poured over her arm. “You gotta be kidding me”, you blurted out. You are shocked as you had expected a much less flashy color, something dark, simple, ordinary. Something a PR assistant would wear walking behind the stars. “Don’t blame me, well, don’t blame just me. Pam picked it out”, Ilaria told you. “She wanted to get you out of your shell a little bit”, she added. “And turn me into a stoplight?”, you asked with a raised eyebrow. “Go try it on”, Ilaria pushed the dress into your hands and moved you towards the bathroom. “And lose the bra already”, she said before she closed the door behind you.

It took you a few moments to shimmy your way into the dress. Thankfully, it was only tight at the top where it had to be. You weren’t able to fully close the zipper in your back on your own. You took a deep breath and went back out. You couldn’t see much in the little mirror in the bathroom, but you had an idea of how you looked.

You opened the door and found Lucy and Ilaria sitting on the bed, waiting for you. “Oh, Y/N”, Lucy sighed and looked like you were about to choose your wedding dress.

“I look ridiculous”, you said and pulled a face. “No offense”, you added towards Ilaria. “Oh shut up, you look gorgeous”, the stylist said and got up. She placed you in front of the full body mirror she had in the bedroom. “There is a slit in my dress, almost up to my…business”, you hesitated for a moment. “If it’s too much for you, I can sew it close a bit”, Ilaria offered. The red fabric came across your stomach and crossed on its way down, creating the vent in your skirt.

“I absolutely love it. That color looks so good on you”, Lucy got up too and stood behind you, looking at you through the mirror. “Really?”, you asked unsure, feeling very self-conscious. You couldn’t even remember when the last time was, you had worn a dress. Probably, when your mom still had picked out your outfits.

Ilaria closed the zipper in your back and now you really felt how tight it was. “I have to admit, it fits like a glove”, you said admiringly while Ilaria tugged and squeezed all around. “And you saw all that with just your eyes?”, you asked impressed, turning from side to side in front of the mirror. “Well, I’m that good, but I also took some measurements last time, remember?”, she reminded you and scanned you up and down, checking the fit of the dress. “I thought they were just for fun”, you shrugged your shoulders. Ilaria just chuckled and shook her head lightly and then concentrated on the dress again. She took some pins and closed the slit in front of your legs a few inches down.

“It seems a bit tight at the top, but it holds everything in place, like it told you”, she nodded and turned you around, scanning you with her skilled eyes. “Being able to breath would be nice though”, you said as you felt your lungs being more and more compressed. “I can loosen it at the zipper that should work for you. But that’s about all I can squeeze in until tomorrow”, she measured your back, opened the zipper a bit until you nodded your head and put pins in it. She took some notes on her slip of paper.

“You’re good, you can change now. Thanks, Y/N”, she said and padded your shoulder. After Ilaria had unzipped you completely, you shuffled back to the bathroom, your hands holding up the top.

“Oh, I just can’t wait until the guys see you in that dress. I think they have never seen you in a dress before”, Lucy seemed way more excited about all this than you were. For a second you had forgotten that people would actually see you in this. It felt like you just played dress up with some friends. “They will all have a great laugh, just like everybody else”, you ranted from the bathroom as you carefully took off the dress again and your bra back on.

Almost like handing over a newborn you gave Ilaria back the dress. “Nobody will laugh at you”, Lucy pouted, a bit fed up with your negativity. She was wondering how she could get you to see how beautiful you were and how amazing you looked especially in that dress?

You got dressed and grabbed your bag. “Okay, I need to head out again”, you told them. “Thanks so much, Ilaria. The dress looks great and I will try my best to wear it with all the pride and dignity I can scrape up”, you gave her a hug goodbye. You also hugged Lucy and walked out.

On your way to the elevator your mind wandered to Ben. What would he say when he saw you in the dress? Would he laugh or would he even like it? Maybe if you see it as a way to impress Ben with a side of you he had never seen before, you could actually see the fun in dressing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the dress I had in mind  
> https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0311/9813/products/4_39e6b1ca-750d-4ef0-ba7a-8a8169196651.jpg?v=1525219981


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You decide to finish work early and just watch movies in bed…  
> and Ben decides to use the keycard he had nicked from you earlier…

“When I finally get you to wear a dress it should be something spectacular. And with Ilaria, I settled on the red one”, Pam said over the phone. It was well in the afternoon, when you sat in a cab on your way back to the hotel. “You settled?”, you asked with big eyes. “Oh yeah. She dialed me way down. To her defense, I went a little overboard”, Pam appeased. “Then I think I haven’t thanked Ilaria enough”, you commented and heard Pam laughing on the other end. “We’re gonna have a great night tomorrow. It will be our last one working together though”, Pam said and you heard some sadness in her voice. You had to swallow.

Tomorrow would end an almost five months-press-tour all over the world where all of you had gotten very close. Some might argue closer with some than with others. “It’s gonna be epic, Pam”, you nodded and felt a tear burning in your eyes. “When we actually get you in that dress”, Pam joked and made you laugh. “It’s so tight, we might actually need everybody”, you joined in and heard Pam cackling through the phone. The cab-driver shot you a look over the rearview-mirror, but you ignored it. You and Pam just had a moment.

After everybody was off to the Vanity Fair Pre-party, you finished up some stuff and ended your workday early. You wanted to spend the night just watching movies in bed. After going through the channels, you stopped at Fifty Shades of Grey and right after came the sequel.

Halfway through the second movie, you were so worked up that your thoughts traveled back to your dress and you started imagining what Ben would say seeing you in it. What it would be like if he slowly unzipped it at the back, pulling it off your body…

You couldn’t help yourself and got out your laptop again and some earphones with it. You shut off the TV and went to the incognito browser to pull up Pornhub. Although it was your laptop, you still were a bit too angsty to watch it on your normal browser. What if someone looked through your search history? You looked for some videos, not bondage related though, but maybe you would find someone that reminded you of Ben or at least got close to it.

When you had your choices ready, you took off your panties and shirt and pulled down the cups of your bra. You lay back down into the cushions, put your earphones in and got comfortable.

Ben had left the party early, sneaking away from the others. He came back to the hotel and got right up to your room. He wanted to use the keycard he had nicked from you earlier today, but felt weird using it all of a sudden. He knocked, but you wouldn’t answer. He figured you might have gone to bed early, but he also felt the need to check on you, so, he let himself in anyway.

As he came to the corner opening into the big bedroom, he stopped as he found you masturbating on your bed, earphones in your ears, soft moans dropping from your lips. He stood back and kept himself in the shadows as the only light in the room came from your laptop screen. You were slightly turned towards the windows and couldn’t see him. Also, you were pretty occupied. One of your hands was between your thigs, your other hand was kneading one of your breasts.

While he watched you and listened to your moans, his hand wandered down to his crotch as it got a bit tight down there. He stroked himself over his pants, biting his lower lip at the sight of you. When he felt like he couldn’t stay out of it any longer, he took a step forward.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed a movement in the dark and when you turned your head, you found a person standing there. You screamed out and ripped the earphones out of your ears as you shot up in your bed. At first, your brain didn’t quite comprehend who it was, just that someone was standing there in your room. You felt like you were having a heart attack. Then your eyes started to focus. “BEN, WHAT THE FUCK?!”, you yelled in shock. You closed your legs shut and automatically put your hand in front of your chest to cover you. Underneath your hands, you found your heart pounding so fast, it felt like it was about to jump out of your chest. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. It’s just me”, he came over, his hands up in defense.

“How did you even get in here?”, you asked breathlessly. “I nicked one of your keycards this morning. I thought it would be funny, but it clearly wasn’t, I’m sorry”, he quickly explained and apologized. He sat down on the edge of the bed. This sexy idea he had this morning quickly turned into something disastrous.

“I thought someone was coming to kill me in my sleep”, you said and almost found the humor in this situation. “And I thought you were masturbating”, he commented with a cocky smile. You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. So we’re back at flirting. Two could play this game.

“I wasn’t masturbating, I was de-stressing”, you replied and straightened your back. “Then let me help you ‘de-stress’”, he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “It works faster that way”, he added with a wink. “I hope fast is not your specialty”, you commented with a smug smile on your face. You leaned back on your hands and arched your back a little, exposing your breasts that were still out of your bra. This turned into something very interesting. “I think you know the answer to that”, he countered and leaned a little forward, licking his lips. His eyes immediately shot down to your hard nipples and back up to your face.

“I do…but it doesn’t hurt to check on it from time to time”, you said and licked your lips in a lascivious way. He took off his jacket and let it fall to the floor. You sat up straight again and reached back to unclasp your bra, slipping your arms out of the straps.

“I’m already done undressing. You need to catch up, Jonesy”, you said with smile in the corner of your mouth and looked down at your now completely naked body and back over to him.

He kicked off his shoes and started fumbling with his pants. He wanted to play it cool, but he had a naked you in front of him. So, there wasn’t much about being cool anymore. He just wanted to get into bed with you and touch and kiss every inch of your body. You closed your laptop and quickly put it next to the bed.

You got up on your knees and moved over to the edge of the bed, reaching out to unbutton Ben’s shirt while he opened his pants. You leaned forward and kissed your way down his chest as you exposed his skin button by button. When you reached the waistband of his pants you leaned back up again and Ben quickly took off his clothes. Then he stood there in front of you, naked and with an impressive hard-on.

Ben put his hand in your neck to hold you as he, slowly at first, kissed you, pressing his body against yours. You sighed as you felt his body heat. His cock was pressed against your lower stomach.

His other hand wandered over your back down to your ass and gave it a good squeeze which made you hiss at his lips. You could feel him smile against your skin as his mouth wandered over your jaw, down to your neck.

He slowly pushed you back onto the bed, following you. Your legs spread immediately to welcome him between them. Ben put his hand on your lower stomach, moving it down to your center, his fingertips grazing your skin. His middle finger softly moved over your wet folds. He moaned at your lips as he noticed just how wet and ready you were for him.

“I need you, Ben”, you mumbled and looked directly at his eyes. The intensity of his stare took your breath away. For a second, he stopped in his motion and it felt like time had stopped as your gazes were entangled. Then you felt how he slowly slipped two of his fingers into your wet pussy, keeping the eye contact. Your eyes rolled back into your head. “Ben”, you moaned and pushed your pelvis towards his fingers.

He started moving in and out, curling them up and hitting just the spot. “Ben”, you said in a high-pitched voice, squirming beneath him. He supported his weight on his arm next to your head, leaving just enough space between your bodies so he could move his fingers inside you.

“Ben…Ben…Ben”, you moaned and it almost sounded like a countdown. You reached up and pulled his face down to kiss you. Before you could come, you shifted your wait and rolled him over on his back. You climbed on top of him, his hands immediately going to your hips. You moved your pelvis back and forth, rubbing your juices over his hard cock between you. Ben groaned beneath you and the grip of his hands on your hips got tighter.

“Fuck, Y/N, please”, he pleaded and his hips bucked up. You leaned forward, pressing your boobs against his chest, and lifted your ass just enough so he could line himself up with your wet center. You put your hands on his chest as you sat up and slowly sank onto his cock.

You both threw your heads back in pleasure at the feeling of each other. He filled you completely and you waited a moment for your inner walls to adjust to him, before you started rocking your hips back and forth.

Ben reached out to grab your breasts. He held them in his strong hands and kneaded them in the rhythm of your movements. You put your hands over his and moved them around on your boobs. He pinched your nipples between his thumbs and index-fingers which made you gasp.

You moved your hips faster, circling them a bit. You entangled your fingers with his as you rode him. He slowly pulled you down at your hands until your upper body was pressing against his again, your arms above his head on the bed. Ben wrapped his arms around you to hold you in place as his hips thrusted up.

You screamed out as he started to pound you hard and fast, just like you needed it. You had your elbows left and right of his head. Your fingers wandered through his hair and you buried your face at his shoulder, lightly biting into his skin. He hissed at your neck at the pain of your teeth.

One of his hands moved down to your ass and gave it a good slap as he kept pounding into you. “Oh, fuck!”, you screamed out. It was almost too much for you. You sat up and supported yourself with your hands on his pecks as you basically jumped up and down on his cock.

You felt that you were getting close. “Ben, I…oh god…I’m about to…”, you mumbled, panting heavily. He sat up in the middle of the bed. Your arms flung around his neck, giving him a passionate kiss. “Come for me, love. Don’t hold back”, he said and had his hands on your ass again, moving it back and forth on his cock.

With your hands, you held on to his shoulders as your hips grinded hard onto him, taking him as deep as possible. Your walls clenched around his throbbing cock as you sunk your nails into his skin. “Oh god, Ben”, you moaned out loud as your orgasm hit you. You pulled him so close, wrapped your arms so tightly around his neck that you almost choked him. You held on to him like you were falling…falling for Ben.

Your hips jerked uncontrollably on his cock. Ben’s arms wrapped around your body, holding you close, pressing you down on his cock as he came inside you. He grunted your name, burying his face at your shoulder.

You both were breathing heavily as you sat in the middle of the bed, entangled in each other’s limbs. Nobody dared to move as you came down from your highs. Ben was placing little kisses along your shoulder up to your neck and you did the same from his neck up to his jaw. This was probably the best sex you had ever had and you cherished every second of it. You never wanted to let go of Ben again.

He looked up at you and pushed a sweaty strand of hair out of your face. You lost yourself in his gaze and felt tears rushing to your eyes.

Before you would embarrass yourself by crying in his arms after sex, you quickly looked away and got off his lap. Ben was a bit irritated but let go of you. He lay down on the bed, pulling the covers over his naked body. You had your back turned to him, facing the wall of the bedroom as you took a sip out of your water bottle that was standing on the night stand. You took a deep breath and got yourself together again.

You turned back around and just looked at him, soaking in the view. You didn’t know if you would ever have the chance again. “I know, I know, I need to go”, Ben rolled his eyes with a playful smile. “That’s not it…also, we both know that never worked out”, you waved off and moved closer. You placed your head on his naked chest, wrapping your arm around his waist. He put his arms around you and also pulled the blanket over your body.

“You can stay if you want to”, you mumbled at his chest, almost inaudible, but just almost. “You can tell me that you don’t want me to go, you know?”, he said and softly stroked your hair.

Instead of an answer you pinched his side, which made him squirm underneath you. “Shut up”, you pouted. He put his arms tighter around you and you felt him placing a kiss on your hair.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s the day of the Oscars! Everybody’s getting ready, including you, presenting your red dress to everybody for the first time, including Ben…

Today was the big day. The Oscars. No appointments today, just getting ready for the big event as you would have to leave the hotel at 3 PM, all ready and dolled up.

You got woken by Ben placing a kiss on your temple before he got going. He was already dressed. As he leaned back, your hand reached out and grabbed his shirt, pulling him back down. You put your hands on his face, pulling him into a long, passionate kiss. Just one last time, you thought to yourself.

“See you later”, he said a little off beat as he pulled back, surprised by your kiss. When he was gone you let yourself fall back into the cushions. That was it, time to get back to the real life. After tonight, you would fly back to London, moving on to your next project. It was time to go back being just friends.

As an attempt to motivate you for your day, you got up to take a shower, starting the day like you’re used to. But not without turning around again and sniffing the bed sheets one last time that still smelled like him. A line from Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You popped into your head and you hummed the songs all through your shower.

“Now it’s your turn”, the make-up lady said to you as you had just delivered some last-minute tights to Pam’s hotel room. The lady, who had introduced herself as Susan, pointed at the chair. “What for?”, you asked unknowingly, looking around the room. “To get you ready for the Oscar’s, darling”, Pam said from her chair in the corner. She was on her phone and didn’t even look up. “I thought I just slap some mascara on and we’re good”, you commented and looked between Pam and Susan. “That’s what I feared”, Pam sighed and finally looked up at you.

“That’s why I asked Susan and Phoebe to take care of you as well. You worked so hard the past few months, you deserve to be dolled up”, Pam said as she came over and sat you down in the chair in front of the lighted mirror. She was already done with hair and make-up and just needed to change into her dress. “But there’s so much…”, you spoke up, but she put her hand over your mouth. “No, I’ll take care of it. Darling, I’ve been doing this job almost longer than you are alive. I can handle it.” And with that, Pam left you alone with the ladies for hair and make-up.

Phoebe, who was responsible for your hair, didn’t even ask you what you might like, she just got to work and so did Susan. Pam or Ilaria must have instructed them. Phoebe curled your hair into big waves and combed everything to your left side, fixating some strands in the back of your head with pins and some hairspray. Susan slapped a bunch of make-up on your face and upper chest as the dress was strapless. You feared that you would look like a clown at the end of it, especially as she applied some red lipstick in the color of your dress. The two women worked simultaneously and really well as a team. You could see that they’re working together for years.

When they were finally done and took a step back, you could finally see yourself in the mirror. You almost gasped at the sight of you. Your jaw dropped. They had done a tremendous job of turning you into a presentable human being, so you thought. The make-up was light and highlighted all your features in the best possible way. Your eyes were carefully framed in a small line of eyeliner and some light brown eye-shadow to bring out your eye color. Your skin looked smooth and glowing. The bags under your eyes were pretty much non-existent.

“You guys are incredible”, you said when you finally found your words again. “Yes, we’re pretty good”, Susan smiled, expressing their typical L.A. confidence. Phoebe winked at you through the mirror and began packing up her stuff. “Ilaria wanted us to tell you that she has your dress at her room and you should go there to change”, Susan told you and then turned to pack up her things as well.

“Oh, okay”, you replied a bit startled. You thought you would have the peace and quiet of your room to change and mentally prepare yourself for the evening and the dress. A look at the time on your phone convinced you otherwise as it was already very late. This whole “Make this woman look like a human being”-procedure had taken way longer than you had thought.

You rushed over to the stylist’s room and knocked. Rami opened the door for you. “Wow, Y/N, you look gorgeous”, was the first things he said. “Oh, uhm, thank you”, you said as you stepped in, blushing immediately. Rami was already dressed in his suit. “You don’t look too bad yourself”, you acknowledged his outfit and nodded approvingly. “Very sharp”, you added. “Thank you, my lady”, he hinted a bow and accompanied you to the bedroom area that had completely transformed into a designer’s studio.

Lucy was already in her purple dress, getting the finishing touches of her make-up. “Oh wow, Lucy, you look incredible”, you said as you spotted her. She couldn’t move her head as her make-up artist just put some lipstick on her with a tiny brush.

“Oh good, you’re here, finally. You’re late”, Ilaria said and walked over to you. “That’s not my fault. This”, you said and circled your face, “took forever.” “And you look really beautiful, but you have to get ready now. Pam will be here any moment and she will kill me if you’re not ready when she comes back”, the stylist said and with that, she shoved you into the bathroom, closing the door behind you.

You found the dress in its bag hanging on the hook of the inside of the bathroom door. You quickly undressed and didn’t know what to do with your clothes, so you just folded it half-heartedly and left it on a little chair next to the sink. Special for this day, you wore matching red panties you had just bought this morning to go with your dress, just in case the slit in your dress would lose a fight against a breeze of wind or you would just fall over because of the high-heels you’re not used to.

You stepped into the dress and pulled it up. You closed the zipper as far as you could and arranged your boobs until nothing was pinched or crumbled up anymore. “I need a little help in here”, you shouted towards the door and the next moment, Ilaria stepped inside. “The zipper again”, you said and turned your back towards her, pulling your hair over your shoulder to give her enough access. “I got your shoes right here”, she said and held up a pair of black pumps that weren’t that high as you thankfully noticed. They would look great to the black clutch Ilaria had chosen for the evening. She put them down next to your feet before she pulled the zipper up the last few inches.

You immediately noticed that the dress wasn’t that tight anymore around your upper body and the slit was sewed shut to a humane length. “Thanks”, you said as she let go of the zipper and you put your hair back into place, a few strands in front of your shoulder, a few strands on your back, just like Phoebe had arranged them.

Ilaria helped you into your shoes and then you were ready. You looked up into the mirror and were actually surprised by the sight of you. You didn’t know you could look like that. You turned in front of the mirror and looked at you from different angles.

“Ready? Everybody’s here. They’re just waiting for you”, Ilaria told you and looked at you through the mirror. “Everybody’s here?”, you asked, very nervous all of a sudden. She nodded. “You look amazing by the way”, she added with a wink. “Thanks to you”, you said. “I just gave you a dress. You brought the rest of you”, she motioned at your whole body. You knew she was giving you a compliment, but you had trouble accepting it. Ilaria gave you an amazing dress, Phoebe gave you a beautiful hair-do and Susan gave you a gorgeous face. There wasn’t much you had brought to the table, except an empty canvas.

You took a deep breath and followed Ilaria outside. “Sorry guys for keeping you waiting”, you said as you stepped outside. You felt a little wobbly on your high heels.

When the others saw you in the dress for the first time, everybody’s in awe. You looked up as it was silent in the room all of a sudden and you found everybody staring at you. “Come on, you guys act like I’m normally walking around in a sack of potatoes”, you commented and put your right hand on your hip. “Well, compared to this, you really do”, Joe said. “Charming Joe”, you said dryly and rolled your eyes.

Your eyes shot over to Ben, looking extremely sexy in his white jacket and black dress pants. Grace had done a terrific job. He still looked at you like he couldn’t believe it was actually you and you didn’t know what to make of it.

“You look amazing, Y/N”, Lucy said and stepped forward to hug you. “Says the right one! You look outrageously gorgeous”, you told her, happy for the distraction, as you put her away on an arms-length and checked out her gown and make-up. “Ilaria, we did a great job, picking that dress”, you heard Pam from the back of the room, coming towards you. “I really gotta say, we’re a bunch of good-looking people”, she said as she turned around and looked at everybody in their suits and gowns. Only know you noticed Allen and his wife Jessica. They must have come up with Pam.

“I suggest we roll up there and mix up that lame party they call the Oscars”, Pam said. “Hear hear”, you heard Gwil from the back. “Pam, what’s gotten into you?”, you laughed. “About two glasses of champagne”, she answered you and made everybody laugh.

“We should all take some pictures together before we leave”, Lucy announced and you immediately took a step to the side as you thought she was only talking about the cast. “What are you doing?”, Ben looked over to you and pulled you to his side. Ilaria took pictures with various phones from various constellation of people. The group chat would be lit later as you would all exchange the pictures.

You went through all sorts of constellations. Just the guys, then the whole cast, then just the ladies in their dresses, Lucy of course outshining everyone of you.

“Hey, let’s do one with us three and Y/N. Like a reverse Charlie’s Angels”, Joe suggested and motioned at Gwil, Ben, you and himself. “Yes, that’s cool”, Lucy said and picked up her phone. “Go, get together”, she said and motioned at the four of you. You felt a bit weird standing so close to Ben after all that had happened over this weekend. You took a little step in front of the three guys and the boys got into the pose like the original angels. “That’s so rad”, Lucy laughed as she snapped some shots. You tried your best to look cool and contempt.

“Now do some cute ones”, she said and the four of you stood next to each other with your arms around everyone. You stood between Ben and Joe, Gwil on the far right. Ben put his hand on the small of your back and it sent a little shiver down your spine. You had trouble keeping up a smile as you posed for the pictures.

“That red and white of you two looks really cool together”, Lucy mentioned and you looked over at Ben in his white jacket. He had his hand still on your back as he turned his head to look at you too. Unknowingly, the both of you exchanged a lovely look. Lucy snapped a pic of that moment almost by mistake. As she looked at the picture on her phone, she’s struck by the chemistry of you two and smiled to herself. She loved the idea that you two could be an item.

“You look really amazing tonight”, he said in a low voice, so only you could hear it. You blushed immediately. “You look good too”, you returned the compliment and it almost looked to you like he was blushing as well.

“Alright, enough photos for right now. There will be a lot taken where we are going right now. Time to get this thing moving”, Pam clapped her hands together and snapped Ben and you out of your secret little conversation. The whole party made its way down to the lobby, cars already waiting. Time for the Oscars!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are finally at the Oscars, watching from the greenroom with most of the cast as the movie wins one Oscar after the other. But you’re so hungry that, when you all waited outside for the car, almost bite Joe’s arm off when he suddenly appears with a doughnut in his hand…

You rode over to the Dolby Theatre in two cars. Pam rode with Rami, Lucy, Allen and his wife Jessica and you shared the car with Gwil, Joe and, of course, Ben. While Gwil sat in the front seat next to the driver, you shared the back seat, sitting between Ben and Joe.

Now that you got closer to the red carpet, you felt more nervous than ever. Although you would just stay on the side or walk behind the cast during the interview section, you really hoped and prayed that you would not trip over you own feet and fall flat on the red carpet. Maybe you would blend in by wearing the red dress if you just didn’t move until everybody was gone.

You jiggled your foot while in thoughts. “Please stop”, Ben said and put his hand on your knee to stop you. “You’re making me nervous”, he said. Not only for you was it the biggest event of your career tonight. “You’re making all of us nervous”, Joe commented, who was evenly unnerved by your jiggling. Before you could say something, your stomach growled loudly in the car, making Gwil turning his head to the back of the car.

“And hungry”, Joe added with a chuckle. “I’m sorry, I haven’t eaten all day”, you explained and folded your hands in your lap. “Does that mean you’re going to be really fun as soon as we got the first glass of champagne in you?”, Joe asked with an excited glimpse in his eyes. “Well, if I don’t get something to eat first, I’m going to be a cheap drunk, that’s for sure”, you exhaled loudly and twisted your fingers.

“Excuse me, we have arrived”, the driver announced and stopped the car. Showtime!

“Alright fellas, listen up”, you said back in your PR headspace. Gwil turned around in his seat and was now facing the three of you. “These are the Oscars and we’re going to have a blast, but first, you need to survive the red carpet. Smiles up, backs straight, be funny, but no shenanigans. Looking at you Mazzello”, you said to the side. Joe commented with an eyeroll. “You know the drill. BoRhap on three”, you exclaimed and put your hand in the middle. The guys put their hands on yours just like you had done before every big press event in the past five months. It had become sort of your thing together. Usually Rami and Lucy would be there too.

“One, two, three, BoRhap”, the four of you said together, bouncing your hands up and down. Then the guys got out of the car. The wall of sound that hit you as soon as they opened the car doors was deafening. But what surprised you even more was Ben’s extended hand to help you out of the car. You scooted over, anxious of keeping your legs together as you swung them out of the back of the car. You reached out, took his hand and stood up. Your other hand was holding on to your clutch. “Thanks”, you mumbled with a shy smile which he couldn’t have heard but he nodded anyway.

You met up with the others in a little tent at the beginning of the red carpet. Getting everybody ready, some make-up retouches, you trying to fix Rami’s crooked bow tie and the next moment it was a go.

Pam walked with Lucy and Rami, you accompanied the other four guys, Jessica by your side. You were happy that you weren’t alone. Also, it helped your nerves that you had something to do as you moved them from one reporter to the next after the photographers were done. The guys snapped a few pics themselves for Instagram, Allen making a video for his followers.

Only forty minutes later, it was done, you had survived the red carpet. Rami and Lucy were going to their seats in the big hall, right front and center as Rami was one of the nominees as Best Leading Actor. The rest of the cast, Pam and you were in the greenroom-slash-bar backstage, watching it over big TV screens. “I still think it’s a shitty move that you guys don’t have seats in there”, you said, holding on to your glass of champagne, sitting in a booth, surrounded by Joe, Gwil, Ben, Allen, Jessica and Pam.

“Are you kidding me? This is great”, Joe said. “We have great seats, we have booze and we get to enjoy the show”, he said and toasted you with his drink. You clink glasses with him and took a sip, but you still found it unfair.

You were just two sips in, but it already felt like the alcohol was getting to your head. You felt Ben’s hand next to you on the sofa. While you both still kept looking up at the screen on the wall, you put your left hand on the sofa as well, your pinkies touching. You inhaled deeply at that little touch of your fingers. You took another sip of your drink as you moved your fingers over his, feeling brave thanks to the alcohol. For a short moment, Ben closed his fingers around yours and squeezing them lightly.

“Hey, our first category is up”, Gwil said and you quickly let go of Ben’s hand, scooting to the edge of the seat, pretending to fully pay attention to the TV screen. It was the award for Best Film Editing and Bohemian Rhapsody won. Just like the awards for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

A little later, the winners came backstage and you congratulated them. You took some pictures of them with the guys and toasting to their win.

When it came to the Oscar for Best Actor, you all stood up from your seats. You watched Gary Oldman and Allison Janney opening the envelope and as soon as they read out Rami’s name, your whole corner started cheering like crazy. You all hugged and filled your champagne glasses as you watched Rami giving his acceptance speech. When you turned around after you hugged Gwil, you found Ben in front of you. You didn’t know why, but for a second you hesitated to hug him because somehow you thought that would reveal your secret to anyone. But it would actually strike more attention if you didn’t. Gladly Ben took the decision from you as he just pulled you into his arms. It didn’t last longer than a few seconds, but you took a deep breath of his cologne as you were pressed against his body.

You turned around to the TV to listen to Rami talking. When he thanked Lucy, you actually had tears in your eyes. “You’re alright?”, Ben asked as he noticed you sniffling. “Yeah, yeah, just…this was just too cute”, you said and motioned towards the screen, feeling your eyes tearing up again. “We should do shots, let’s do shots”, Joe called out and walked over to the bar without awaiting your responses.

There was still one award to go, Best Picture. Sadly, Bohemian Rhapsody didn’t win, but it was the best movie in your book. “Four out of five, that’s still great”, you shrugged your shoulders. “Great? That’s amazing!”, Pam called out and grabbed one of the leftover shots from the trey on the little table in front of you. She knocked it back stone cold and your eyes got big in surprise. “Pam! I’ve never seen you like this”, you called out laughing. “This is a big night for us and as it turned out an even bigger night for the movie we have been accompanying for the past five months. This is a success all the way. It’s time to celebrate that!”, Pam exclaimed, raising her arms in the air. She already seemed a little drunk to you. “Alright, alright. Keep your energy for the afterparty”, you said and pulled her arms down gently.

You were ready to have some fun, dance and drink some more, but before that you definitely needed some food.

Your little group of Gwil, Allen, Jessica, Ben and you were standing in front the Dolby Theatre, waiting for your car to go to the Vanity Fair afterparty as you saw Joe coming back to your little group with a chocolate glazed doughnut. Lucy had gone back to the hotel to change into a more comfortable dress and Rami was still inside with Pam doing interviews after his Oscar win.

“You can have anything you want from me if you give me a bite of that doughnut”, you exclaimed as you spotted him and stared intensively at the treat in his hand. Where the hell did he manage to get a doughnut from?

“That’s quite the offer in a dress like that”, he said with a deeper voice and a wiggle of his eyebrows. “Oh, don’t be gross, Joe”, you playfully slapped his arm. “You started it”, he cried out, pulling his arm away from you. It was also the arm he was holding the doughnut with.

“Pleeeease, Joe”, you whined, grabbed his arm and looked at him with your most convincing look. “Jesus Christ, okay! Before you rip my arm off…”, he finally allowed you to take a bite. It actually was the first bite. The sound you made when you finally sunk your teeth into the fluffy, chocolate covered dough could only be described as sexual. “Thank you, Joe”, you sighed as you had swallowed the bite and gave him back the doughnut. He just looked at you with big eyes. “Why do I feel like I need a cigarette now?”, Joe asked and took a bite himself.

“I have spent three nights with you and I have never heard you make those sounds”, Ben whispered at your side. “Well, you’re not covered in chocolate”, you replied with a low voice. He raised an eyebrow and licked his lips. You looked up at him form under your lashes and bit down on your bottom lip.

“Oh, I can do it even sexier than Y/N”, you heard Joe saying to Gwil. Allen was holding up his iPhone, recording Joe. “Wait”, Joe said and got the doughnut in his hand ready. “Make it dirty”, Gwil commented. “Oh, I’m gonna make it gross”, Joe added. “Yeah, yeah, yeah”, Gwil agreed excitedly. “Ready? Wait…”, Joe said and took a little step forward.

Then, Joe turned to the camera, taking a bite of his treat in a very seductive-gross-kind-of-way, chewing with an open mouth. Allen then played it back in slow motion and it was the funniest thing you had ever seen.

“Can I have another bite?”, you pleaded. “That didn’t turn you off of it?”, Gwil asked and pulled a face. “That’s it, lady, I’m taking you to 7Eleven”, Joe called out and linked arms with you. “We gotta get some food into you before you take a bite out of all of us”, he added in his dry humor. “Anyone else want something?”, he asked around. “No, I’m good”, Allen shook his head and his wife passed as well. “I’ll join you”, Ben announced and linked arms with you on the other side. “Can you guys bring me some pretzels?”, Gwil asked. “Will do”, you nodded and followed Joe and Ben to a cab while Allen, Jessica and Gwil took the car you came with. You would all meet up at the afterparty.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe brings you and Ben to 7Eleven and it is heaven to your empty stomach. Then it’s time to party your asses off at the Vanity Fair afterparty and Pam has a little reminder for you at midnight…

“Welcome to 7Eleven”, Joe said as the automatic doors opened and the three of you stepped inside. You had never been to one and in your hungry, slightly drunk state, it was heaven. “Joe, you have taken me to heaven”, you gasped and held on to his arm.

“Alright children, spread out, get what you want. Daddy’s paying”, he offered and gestured towards the aisles. “Hold my purse”, you said and pushed your clutch into his hands before you started your run for food. You immediately spotted the snack aisle and went there as fast as your heels would take you.

You were so hungry, you opened a bag of Doritos right there and started basically inhaling them while looking over the other items. You found some pretzels for Gwil and took a pack of gum to get the Doritos off your breath later.

While strolling through the aisles, you stacked package upon package on your arms, holding the little tower with your chin to keep it from falling over. You lost track of the guys and apparently of time as well.

“Oi, Y/N, are you done yet? We wanna go”, Ben called out for you over the aisles. “Don’t oi me, Ben”, you said as you came around the corner.

“Y/N, what are you doing? Are you really planning on eating all of this?”, Joe asked as he spotted you coming towards him in the aisle. “Listen, you don’t know all of the food and joy I had to deny myself to fit in this dress, okay?”, you could barely look at him as you were trying to balance all the packets in your arms. “And you’re planning to eat, all that you’ve missed out on, tonight?”, he asked in disbelief. “If that was true, we would have to stop at a pizza joint on the way back”, you joked, but actually, it wasn’t the worst idea.

“Hey, grab me a Coke too”, you said to Ben as you saw a bottle in his hand. He huffed, but turned around to get another one out of the fridge on the other end of the store. Beat it by Michael Jackson started playing over the speakers and you started bouncing your head to the beat.

You unloaded your snacks onto the counter. When Ben came back, he put the two bottles to the pile and the cashier started scanning the items. You kept eating the Doritos and just held it forward for a moment so the cashier could scan it too. You held the package up to Ben and he grabbed a few and put them in his mouth. “Oh wait, you got a few…there”, you said and automatically reached up to wipe away a few crumbs without thinking. Ben froze for a second and put his hand up as well. You quickly pulled your hand back. You felt your cheeks blushing.

“So, how’s 7Eleven?”, Joe asked and as you turned your head you found him recording a video on Instagram. “Not bad, huh?”, he asked as he turned to look at you. “Honestly, it’s the best”, you said while holding up your open bag of Doritos, playing over the fear that Joe might caught that wipe-away-moment on camera.

“You wanna say hi?”, Joe turned to the cashier, who just shook his head while packing your stuff into a plastic bag. “No? Okay”, Joe shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t think so”, he said directly into the camera. Ben got out his credit card and paid. “You come from the Oscars?”, the cashier asked. You just nodded because you had your mouth full. “The Oscars, yeah”, Joe confirmed. “Was it good?”, was the man’s follow-up question. “Pretty good”, Joe nodded his head and looked at Ben. “Pretty good”, he agreed with a smile. If you could call four out of five Oscars just pretty good, then yeah, the night was pretty good so far, you thought to yourself.

“Thanks, cheers”, Joe said as the cashier handed over the bag. You mumbled a thanks as well and happily took the bag full of snacks. Joe was still filming when you walked away and Ben started dancing to Beat it, but Joe cut the video way too soon.

“Hey, I thought daddy was paying?”, you asked him as you reached for the last few Doritos in your bag. “Who’s your daddy now?”, Ben asked behind you, chuckling. Although it sounded odd to you, you had to laugh out loud. “Well, there’s a kink for you”, you just said the first thing that popped in your head and blushed immediately as your own words got to you.

Outside, you threw away the empty bag and took a sip of your Coke. You felt already better and were ready for the afterparty.

A cab brought you to the Vanity Fair afterparty and while Ben and Joe walked the red carpet, you somehow managed to smuggle the bag of snacks into the venue. There was a booth reserved for the cast and team of the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. You met up again with the others and Lucy and Rami had arrived as well. Lucy was now wearing a silver, shining dress and looked better than ever. “I come baring gifts”, you said and put the snacks on the little table. Everyone immediately put their hands on it and ripped the packages open. Gwil smiling happily as he ate his pretzels.

A little later, Brian May and Roger Taylor came with their wives and also the director of the movie and you would all have drinks together, congratulations flying all over the place. “Let’s do shots for every Oscar we’ve won”, Roger announced. “I don’t know, babe”, his wife put a hand on his shoulder. “Love, this is the Oscars, we’ll never win another one. Live a little”, he said to her and handed her a shot from a trey that seemed to have magically appeared in your booth.

“Alright, what the hell”, she took it and the next moment, Roger Taylor himself handed you a shot and you took it without hesitation. Even Brian May and his wife had a shot in their hand and the next moment you all threw your heads back and knocked one down.

Ben was standing next to you as you turned to him. “Oh my god, I’m doing shots with Roger Taylor and Brian May”, you sort of whisper-screamed towards him, but freaking out mostly internally. Ben just laughed at you and handed you another shot. Thank god, you had the full bag of Doritos before or otherwise you might already be lying under the table.

Soon, Roger and Brian and the director left with their wives and it was back to just the cast, Jessica, Pam and you. You were impressed by Pam’s party stamina despite the fact that she was over fifty years old and you had never seen her drink that much.

As soon as it struck midnight, Pam handed you a glass of champagne. “This is it, darling. We’re done with the movie, done with the press tour. I think we did an incredible job and I couldn’t have asked for a better partner”, she told you and clinked glasses. You felt sad that this magical time had now come to an end. You really liked Pam, you had never had a boss as nice and as great as her. You didn’t know if it was the alcohol or just the fact that you had to say goodbye now, but you felt tears rushing to your eyes and one even making its way down your cheek. “No tears, darling. This is a time to celebrate”, she wiped it away with her finger. She then hugged you tightly. “I’m sure we will work together in the future and you know, if you don’t want to do that freelance thing anymore, you will always have a place at my agency”, she said as she let go of you. You just nodded, not able to speak at the moment.

Pam then walked around, saying goodbye to everybody as she was tired and knew when to stop drinking but the youngsters, as she called you, should have more fun, booze and a lot of dancing. Before she finally left, she gave you another hug. “You know that as ten minutes ago, you are no longer working for the studio. Which means you can have fun with whoever you fancy, darling”, she said and her head lightly motioned over to Ben, standing a few feet away, talking to Allen and Joe. She didn’t say it openly, but she wiggled her eyebrows and said it with a special tone in her voice.

At first, you freaked internally. She knew, oh god, she knew! But then you realized that she was right and it didn’t seem like she was going to tell anyone or reprehend you for anything.

When Pam was gone, you looked over at Ben, who, right at that moment, looked over to you and gave you a loving smile. You swallowed hard. You drank the rest of your champagne and put the empty glass down.

You motioned him with your head that he should come over to you. You quickly checked if everyone was occupied with talking, drinking and dancing, then you just took Ben’s hand and without saying anything, led him out of the booth. He followed you, but looked a bit confused. Of course, he didn’t know what Pam had said to you.

You walked away a few feet from the group and pulled him behind a giant plant in the corner. You walked backwards until you felt the wall in your back, a hand in his neck, pulling him down for a kiss. You tasted the alcohol on his breath, but most all you tasted him. Pictures from the weekend flashed through your mind as you felt his hands on your hips and his tongue in your mouth. This was the best weekend you ever had and probably ever will.

“Woah, not that I’m complaining, but where is that mood change coming from?”, he asked as you broke the kiss after a few moments. “I just had to, you look so good”, you said with a dirty grin on your lips. “Well, then I should get an Oscar for restraining myself all evening because you look absolutely stunning in that dress and I behaved”, he countered and licked his lips. You bit down on your bottom lip as you pulled him back down for another kiss.

The alcohol helped you in thinking that tonight hadn’t to be the end of whatever it was that was going on between you two, but the last part of your brain that wasn’t drunk, and it was a little part, reminded you that this was far from reality. And reality would hit you as soon as the plane touched down in London.

But now you were still on the Vanity Fair Oscar afterparty, not a thing you thought you would ever be able to say, and you would enjoy every single second of it.

You walked back first as you didn’t want anyone to see you two coming back together. You found Joe dancing with Lucy and joined them.

Purple Rain came on and you and Joe immediately looked at each other, remembering that night of karaoke in Japan. “Oh my god, are you okay?”, you asked overly dramatic. “I’m…okay, but I’m on the edge”, he said in a whiny tone and held on to your arm. You both looked over to Ben, who had no idea what was going on. Back in Japan, Joe had sung that sung, completely drunk, for Ben because he missed him so much and “invented” Cardboard Ben as a compensatory friend. Which still lived with Joe in his house.

It was an amazing night. You were taking pictures of each other, danced together and tried to drink away the fact that this was the end to the movie and the press tour. They would all still be friends of course, but would not be able to travel and be together in that capacity and for those long periods of time that were behind you. And you mostly drank over the fact that you didn’t know if you had any place in there at all.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up in your hotel room with the worst hangover of all time and you’re alone. You almost miss your flight back home and don’t even have the chance to say goodbye to everyone.  
> Back home, you try to get back into your normal life. Until the doorbell rang…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second to last chapter. Can’t believe we’ve come that far! Would love to hear what you think of this story!

The loud ringing of your alarm on your phone woke you up. You had no idea where you were. And you had no idea why you were wearing only your red panties. You carefully lifted your head and found red and black stains on you pillow. Your head felt like it was about to explode.

You turned around to turn off the alarm. You found a water bottle on your nightstand and emptied it with three big gulps as you felt like you were close to dying of thirst. You rubbed your eyes and your fingers were stained with black leftovers from your mascara and eyeliner. “Shit”, you mumbled to yourself.

Then, slowly, the events from last night came to you. The Oscars, going to 7Eleven, the Vanity Fair afterparty, you kissing Ben behind a plant and then…nothing. Absolute blackout. You turned around to find the other side of your bed empty and untouched. It was highly unlikely that Ben had gotten up and made the bed before he left, which meant you had slept alone. It was kind of a relief to you.

You looked around the room to find your red dress carefully placed on the chair by the window and somehow you knew that was not your doing. Who had brought you to your room? You couldn’t remember when the last time was you had that much to drink, if ever.

You tried to stand up and felt dizzy. You held on to the wall as you made your way over to the bathroom. You turned on the light and immediately regretted it as a stinging pain shot from your squinted eyes to the back of your head, wrecking your brain in the middle. You caught a glimpse of your face in the mirror. You were pale and almost a little green around the nose. But most of all, your lips and the skin around was painted red and your smudged mascara and eyeliner made you look like a drunk panda.

You took a long, hot shower, trying to get all the dirt off your skin and the alcohol out of your system. You felt only a little bit better when you stepped out and immediately sunk down to your knees to vomit into the toilet.

There was a good reason for an alarm being set on your phone. You had a plane to catch which only now you remembered. You were already very late and still had to back your suitcase. You threw everything in as soon as you were dressed, grabbed everything you found that was yours and left the room in a hurry. As you checked out, you asked the receptionist, a nice one this time, if she could hold on to your dress and give it to a woman called Ilaria when she would come to pick it up later.

You didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to everyone and had to do it over text. You explained how sorry you were to do it like this, but you would miss your flight and you couldn’t wait to see everyone very soon. You didn’t even know how likely that would be, but it’s what you said in these situations. You also texted Ilaria that the dress was deposited at the reception and she could pick it up any time she liked.

You made it to the airport barely in time and caught some angry glimpses from the check in lady and the stewardess when you were finally on the plane. Now there were well of ten hours of flying ahead of you. You had managed to get some pills for your headache and your constant need to vomit and actually were able to catch up on some sleep. But sleeping in economy class did not add to your level of rest.

When you finally arrived back home at your flat, you felt like crying because you knew a nice comfy bed was waiting for you. It was already well into the evening when you opened the door to your flat. You just put your suitcase and bag into the hallway, undressed on your way to your bedroom and as soon as your head hit the pillow, you were gone. Flying with a massive hangover, crossing that one off your list.

The next morning, you had your first meeting for your new project. But besides that, you had the rest of the day to yourself. You unpacked and washed your clothes. Your thoughts kept wandering back to Sunday night. You were still trying to figure out how you’ve gotten back to your hotel room and who took the dress off of you, but you were too afraid to ask in your WhatsApp group chat.

A DING from an incoming message ripped you out of your thoughts. You grabbed your phone and found a message from Lucy, in your private chat.

“Thought you might want to have this”, you read and the next second a picture of Ben and you appeared on your screen. It was from Sunday afternoon, back in the hotel before you had left for the Oscars. It showed Ben in his white jacket and you in your red dress, standing next to each other, his arm around your waist, exchanging a lovingly look. You didn’t even know that someone had noticed that moment, let alone took a picture. You had to swallow hard as a wave of sadness washed over you. You missed him so much already. You took a deep breath and started typing an answer.

You thanked her for the picture, asked her how she was and finally worked up the courage to ask her if she knew how you had gotten back into your room. She told you, she didn’t know as she and Rami had left before you. The only thing she remembered was that it had come down to you, Ben and Joe that were still at the party. So, it must have been Ben, you thought to yourself, but you weren’t sure. Why wouldn’t he have stayed the night then?

When you went to bed later that day, it was the first time you realized that you would have to sleep alone. After last weekend, you weren’t used to it anymore. You lay on the left side of your bed and let your hand wander over the empty half. It had been empty for quite a while now but it never seemed so overwhelming to you before. To distract your thoughts, you grabbed your phone and scrolled through Instagram. You found pictures of Ben attending the YSL fashion show in Paris last night and he looked so damn good that you immediately bit your bottom lip. Well, that didn’t help at all.

It took you a while to fall asleep that night and your sleep was restless. At least, you had the day off. You slept in and then cleaned your apartment all morning. For lunch, you went out to grab some greasy food now that you were allowed to again and bought some groceries on your way home.

For the rest of the afternoon, you watched some movies on Netflix in bed and played on your phone. Although it was just 9 PM, your eyes started to fall shut again and again, until the doorbell rang. At first, you thought it was in the movie you were barely watching. When it rang again, you sat up straight in your bed. Who could that be?

You got out of bed and quickly shuffled over to the intercom. “Hello?”, you asked as you pressed down on the button. “Y/N? It’s Ben…can I come up?”, you heard his raspy voice through the speaker and jumped a step back in surprise. Ben?! Ben at your door? Why was he here? How did he know where you live? So many questions you wanted to ask him, but instead you just said, “Okay”, and buzzed him in.

As soon as your finger let go of the buzzer, you ran into your bathroom and combed your hair, applied some deodorant and quickly gargled with mouthwash before you heard a knocking at your door. You took a deep breath. There was no time to change clothes, the cotton shorts and the t-shirt would have to make do.

You walked over to your door and opened it. There he was. “Hi”, he spoke in a low voice. “Hi”, you almost whispered, sounding a little breathless. “Can I come in?”, he asked and ran his hand through his hair. He looked very tired. “O-of course”, you stuttered a bit and took a step aside you let him inside your flat. When he walked in, he had his backpack on his back and pulled a suitcase behind him.

“Ben, what are you doing here? Did something happen?”, you asked, having no clue as to why he would show up at your door. “Are you coming from the airport?”, you added to your questions. He placed his suitcase at the wall in your little hallway and put his backpack down next to it. “I know it may sound weird, but I just had to see you”, he said as he turned around. You swallowed hard at his words. Although you didn’t want it to, a little glimpse of hope started flickering in your stomach.

“Oh”, was the only thing that came out of your mouth. He took a step closer to you and placed his hand on your hip. He gently pulled you closer to him as he lowered his head. You raised up on your tip-toes and put your mouth on his. He gently grazed your lips with his. You put your hand on his neck, pulling him even a little closer. As he deepened your kiss, he wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you off the ground, bringing your face to the same level as his.

A moment later, he put you back down and you pulled your head back. “You look tired”, you whispered as you let the fingers of your right hand brush along his temple. He put his forehead against yours and closed his eyes. “I haven’t really slept in two days”, he mumbled. You put your chin forward and gently placed a light kiss on his lips. Then you intertwined your fingers with his and pulled him to your bedroom.

“You never looked sexier”, he said behind you as he followed you through your flat. You laughed out loud as you wore a Mickey Mouse shirt with no bra. “You must be really tired out, huh? You know you’ve seen me naked?…And in that red dress! I even put that above naked on the sexy-scale”, you dryly joked and heard him chuckle behind you. The next moment, you felt two arms wrapping around you from behind.

The movie was still on as you entered the room. You turned around and unzipped his hoodie and pulled it off him. Then you grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, dropping it to the floor next to you. “Lose those pants and get in the bed”, you said to him in a low tone, not leaving him any chance to take off your clothes. Ben slipped out of his pants and kicked his shoes off in the process. You grabbed his hand and pulled him over to your bed. You stepped in front of him and pushed him down until he sat on the mattress and then placed a hand on his chest to push him back, until he sat against the headboard. You sighed under your breath at the feeling of his muscular chest beneath your fingers as you straddled him. He licked his lips and a dirty grin appeared on his lips, which was interrupted by a big yawn.

“How about us two…”, you said and bent forward to place a kiss on his cheek, “watch some Netflix and chill?”, you suggested and got off his lap. “Can we just skip Netflix and move to the chil-part?”, he asked and reached out to grab your hips to put you back on his lap. “Your clearly need to catch up on some sleep”, you said to him and lightly patted his cheek. His reply was interrupted by another yawn.

“I’ll be here in the morning, just relax”, you said and got comfortable next to him. You pulled your blanket over the two of you and scooted down until you found a comfortable position. Ben sighed, but did the same. You had no idea what was going on in the movie you were watching.

The next time you looked over to Ben, he was sound asleep. His head rested on your shoulder. You smiled over at him and placed a light kiss on his forehead. Then, you turned off the TV and the bedside lamp before you turned back around to Ben. You cuddled up to him, placing an arm around his waist.

He said he wanted to see you. He had come right from the airport, judging from the suitcase he had still with him. Your stomach fluttered at the thought of it and you couldn’t wipe a smile off your face as you watched him sleep next to you. You didn’t even care where he had gotten your address from. You were just happy that he was here, with you.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you wake up you can’t believe that Ben is actually in your flat. You ask him why he came to you last night, but his answer gets interrupted by your phone. You have to head out for a meeting, but you two decide to meet up later to talk…

The next day, you woke up first. You would think that this was all a dream if Ben wasn’t still laying in front of you as you opened your eyes. It was already bright outside, the sunlight shining through your half-open blinds.

You reached out to push a blonde strand of hair out of his face. He was laying on his stomach, his face buried into his pillow, sounding and looking very much asleep. You carefully crawled out of bed and made a pot of coffee. You filled two cups and brought them back to your bedroom. You placed them on your bedside table and sat down on your bed, back against the headboard.

You ran your fingers through Ben’s hair and he started shifting. He turned around in the sheets and looked up at you through one eye. “Morning”, you said softly and pushed his hair out of his face again. Ben grabbed our hand and placed a kiss on your palm. You inhaled deeply at that sight. It was so gentle, so sweet and he just looked out of this world gorgeous when he had just woken up.

“I got you a cup of coffee”, you said and turned around to grab one of the cups for him. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. Thankful, he grabbed the coffee and took a big sip of it. “Thank you”, he said after he had swallowed. You grabbed your cup as well and took a sip before you placed it back on the nightstand. Ben did the same on his side.

You shifted in your seat and turned to your side to face him. You were afraid to ask why he was here again as you feared that his answer might had changed now that he had a clearer head than last night. As if Ben had felt your concern, he reached out to grab your left hand, holding it in his, his thumb caressing the back of your hand. Like he wanted to reassure you.

“Ben, why did you come to me last night?”, you asked and your mouth felt dry. “Because I wanted to see you”, he said like he did last night. “No, but really”, you countered. “That is why”, he insisted. You had trouble accepting the answer. Yes, the weekend was great and yes, the two of you had gotten along very well pretty much from the start, but what had happened last weekend always felt like it just happened because you were at the Oscars, the pinnacle of this press tour and before you two had to say goodbye, probably forever, you would bring your chemistry to a climax, literally. And now he was here, in your flat, in your bed and although nothing had happened last night, it felt like a typical morning after.

“You know, I can practically hear your rambling thoughts just by looking at your face”, Ben spoke up and you snapped out of your thought. You hadn’t realized that you had been silent for a while. “I’m sorry, it’s just…”, you said and stopped yourself as you didn’t know what to say next. Ben put your hand he was still holding up to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “Y/N, I…”, he said but was interrupted by the ringing of your phone.

You pulled your hand from his, almost feeling caught and turned around to grab it off your nightstand. It was work. “Shit”, you hissed and picked up. “Hello?”, you asked and let your feet dangle off the edge of the bed. “Of course! I’m basically on my way as we speak…yes…yes, great, see you soon”, you said and hung up. “Shit, shit, shit”, you called out, jumping off your bed. “I have a meeting in twenty minutes I totally forgot about”, you explained to Ben while you ran around your bedroom, collecting his clothes and throwing them on the bed. This felt very much like the morning after the second night you had spent together.

Ben got up as well and got dressed while you pulled some pants and a sweater out of your closet and just pulled it over your head. You ran to the bathroom, quickly washed your face, brushed your hair and put them into a pony tail. No time for make-up.

Out in the hallway you ran into Ben who was coming from your bedroom. “I’m so sorry, Ben, I don’t want to throw you out like that, really”, you reassured him. “I know, I know, don’t worry about it”, he waved it off with a smile. He stopped you with his hands cupping your face and placing a kiss to your lips. For a moment, you forgot where you were and where you needed to go.

“Let’s meet up afterwards and talk”, he suggested. “I’ll text you where, okay?”, he added. “I don’t know how long it’s gonna take, but I’ll call you when I’m done”, you reassured him and got on your toes to give him another kiss. Then you really had to go.

Ben texted you that he wanted to meet at a park near his house and added the address. It was the middle of the afternoon as you were finally able to the leave the offices and texted Ben that you were on your way now. You took the tube and walked the last few streets to the park. You waited at the entrance for Ben, pulling your coat tighter around your body as it was windy today. Your palms felt sweaty and your fingers were shaking as you waited, your tummy twisting and turning.

When you saw Ben coming around a corner, all of that was gone, just the feeling of butterflies in your stomach was left. You had fallen for that man so hard. Ben’s face lit up as soon as he spotted you.

“Hey”, he greeted you as he came closer. “Hi”, you said, shyly almost and waved at him shortly. “This is Frankie”, he said and pointed at his dog. Only now you noticed that he wasn’t alone. You bent down and reached out your hand so Frankie could sniff your fingers first.

“She wouldn’t let me leave without her and I figured you had never met her before”, he explained and shrugged his shoulders. Frankie seemed a little cautious at first but her tail was wiggling like crazy as she ran around you, sniffing you from all sides and jumping up on your lap with her front paws. “Hi…hi…oh, you’re a good girl, aren’t you?”, you said it like you talked to a baby and ruffled the fur behind her ears. You looked up as you heard Ben chuckling. “She likes you”, he said. “And I absolutely adore her”, you said as you looked at Frankie. “It’s an honor to meet the most important woman in your life”, you joked as you still patted her behind her ears. “It’s been challenged lately”, Ben replied and as you looked up at him, he shot you a look you couldn’t decipher.

“Shall we?”, he said and gestured towards the path through the park. You nodded and the three of you started walking. As soon as you had walked a few feet into the park, Ben let Frankie off her leech.

“How was your meeting?”, he asked as a conversation starter. “Good, it was, uhm, good. I wasn’t that late in the end, thank god”, you answered. Then it was silent again. You walked for a few feet before Ben stopped in his step. It took you a second to realize that he wasn’t walking next to you anymore. “This is stupid”, he said and you turned around. “What’s stupid?”, you asked, fearing the answer.

“Since when are we not able to talk to each other in a normal way? Why are we both not even able to do small talk anymore?”, he asked and almost sounded angry. Frankie was off to the side, sniffing on grass and leaves.

You crossed your arms in front of your body as you felt very vulnerable right now. Instead of an answer, you looked down at your shoes and just shrugged your shoulders. “Last night, you had asked me why I had come to your flat”, he said and made you look up. “I came right from the airport because…because I couldn’t bare being in the same city as you and not being with you”, he explained.

You gasped at his words. Your mouth was dry and you weren’t able to say anything. “Since I left that hotel in L.A., it was only you that I had on my mind and I couldn’t spend another night away from you”, he said and came the two steps towards you. “Ben…”, was the only thing you were able to say, you didn’t trust your voice at this point.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same, but I think you have a right to know…”, he said and looked insecure, a look you had never seen on him. “Oh, shut up”, you interrupted him and pressed your lips on his. Your arms flung around his neck, pulling him into the kiss. He immediately wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you even closer. This was everything you had ever wanted to hear him say. Your cheeks flushed as the kiss deepened. You had kissed him a dozen times over the weekend but this was different. This kiss was special.

When you pulled back to catch your breath for a second, you looked up into his beautiful green eyes. You were a little out of breath and your stomach was full of butterflies. “I think I’m falling for you, Benjamin Jones”, you said, it was almost a whisper. A big smile appeared on his face and the arms around your waist got tighter. “That’s good because…I’m already madly in love with you, Y/N Y/L/N”, he said and leaned down to kiss you again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading my story. Please leave a comment of what was your favorit part. Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> bear with me, this was just the introduction and to set the scene. It gets wayyyy dirtier from here on out! That's why I chose the category explicit.


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